


tempting fate

by omniXenderman



Category: Shiki (Anime & Manga)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-06-04 00:53:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6634453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omniXenderman/pseuds/omniXenderman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>when a young man named sora loses everything he is sent to live in sotoba with his only relative, seshin muroi, as odd things start to happen in the village he tries to do whatever he can to stop another tragic fate</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**THIS IS THE NEW VERION OF TO TEMPT FATE, I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY IT MORE!**

"hey dad. I'm home, *yawn*" the man with greying hair and glasses turned from the seat he was in and smiled at the teenager lazily entering the doorway. The young man casually placed his backpack on a small glass table resting by the entrance to the living room.

"Sora, nice to see you, but if you get late you really should call and check with me" Sora raised his eyebrows.

"you're one to talk, they've got you working late again right?" as he looked out of the near window he could see the sky was pitch black, littered with small pinpricks of light and a bright full moon. The house itself was dimly lit, only a small table lamp was powered on, and it cast an amber glow over the room.

"yeah, unfortunate isn't it." Sora's father smiled, but his eyes darted away before they met contact. He looked away and sighed.

"those people are pushing you too hard. Money is nice and all, but you're looking pretty pale. Ever since you got back from that trip a week ago you've seemed a bit different." He examined his father closely, studying the details on his face. "did your other family leave you or something?" Sora said with a devilish smile. His father made a fist and gave him a playful bob on the head.

"your mother wouldn't want you saying those kinds of things you know." Sora listened as he opened the fridge and tossed his father a can of soda. He walked back to the couch with his own and cracked it greedily. "sometimes the company needs to send us away. And, again unfortunately, we've been busy, so that means extra overtime. It will probably be that way for a while, you won't see me till it gets dark." Sora gave him a harsh stare.

"tell them to piss off." He said as he took a big gulp.

"mom **definitely** wouldn't want you saying things like that." He gave the teen a stern look.

"where is she by the way?" he said as he flipped on the television. "I know she's been pretty sick these last few days. Is she in bed?" he sighed as he sprawled out on the couch, stretching each of his limbs until they started to pop out of their sockets. His father looked away nervously as Sora asked him the question.

"she's…. uhh…. going to stay with a friend for a few days, the woman apparently got surprise pregnant or something and needs the support." Sora flipped the lamp off and laid back.

"so SHE has the second family then." His father gave him another playful punch, but this time hard enough to hurt. "damn, I was just joking." He said as he rubbed his arm.

"she'll be back soon." He said with a noticeable lack of conviction in his voice. Sora got up and headed in the direction of his room.

"whatever. Tell her to get more orange juice on her way home" he shut the door without a second thought and undressed. He shook himself a bit before he crawled into bed. Almost instantly the blackness of sleep overtook him.

**the next morning**

"ughh…" Sora slowly awoke. His head hurt. In fact, it was throbbing harder than it ever had, he was starting to see afterimages whenever he moved his eyes. He tried to lift his legs, but they felt heavy. " _I feel really weak"_ he thought matter of factly. "da-ad... I-m staying home from school today, I feel pretty sick… _maybe whatever mom had was contagious."_ There was no reply to Sora's strained shout. No retort about how school was important and that you should go even if you feel bad. Sora's father would normally make him go even if blood was dripping from his eyes. He scratched at a couple of red bug bites on his arm and slowly forced himself out of bed. He walked over to the sink and splashed water on himself in an attempt to halt his fatigue. He still felt just as tired, and gasped at how haggard and scraggly he looked when he saw his reflection. His lips were cracked, there were bags under his eyes and his skin was starting to look pale. He shook off the uncertain thoughts plaguing his mind and went back to bed.

**Later that night**

"please." Sora could hear his father's voice faintly from beyond the door to his room. "two more times will kill him. Please don't make me!" he could hear shuffling from outside his door. Another voice replied to his fathers. This was a small voice, one that Sora assumed belonged to a little girl or something.

"you have to realize that you need to do this to live. Do it two more times and he might rise, and you two can spend as much time together as you want. All the time you missed when you were alive." He heard the voice giggle.

" _what? When he was alive? What does that even mean?"_ Sora leaned in the direction of the voices.

"my wife never rose! And you said that this was genetic, what if Sora doesn't either?! I've already lost so much thanks to you; why do you have to take my family from me too?!" he heard his father shouting. He tried to move in their direction but the fatigue and pain was too intense for him to do anything more than squirm.

"relax, you rose so there is a high chance your son will as well." He heard the voice reply snidely.

"I refuse to gamble with the lives of my family!" a crash echoed throughout the house. Then Sora heard another voice, a mans this time.

"listen here, you already did with your wife, so your son shouldn't be much harder. And besides. If you don't… I certainly will, and I promise, I won't be nearly as gentle."

"Sora would never want to live like that! "he heard another crash. And a thump.

"as it stands, you have no choice in the matter. Either you feed or Tatsumi here will"

" _Tatsumi? Who is that?"_ Sora thought weakly. " _damn… I need to go out there. But…sleepy. I'm really sleepy."_ He tried to turn over and walk in the direction. But his limbs felt like they were full of lead. He couldn't move them more than an inch before letting them drop to his side. " _am I in some kind of danger? I- "he_ wasn't able to finish his thought as he drifted back to sleep.

**Sometime later**

"i…feel….so hot" Sora's slowly drifted back to consciousness. He opened his eyes slowly and saw his father leaning over him. He also noticed an orange light filling the room. It seemed to shimmer and shake and as it grew more intense. Flames started to lick the ceiling and the room got hotter. It was so hot it was unbearable and Sora could feel his skin starting to sear. In his numb state the pain didn't faze him much. "dad?"

"in here son" Sora's father said as he placed a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Why do I feel so hot?" he whispered hoarsely.

"it's okay. everything will be fine." He leaned into Sora's neck and a bone chilling sensation overtook the teen. It was so cold the heat and flames surrounding the room didn't even bother him.

"in sorry we weren't able to spend more time together." He said as he pulled away. Sora could feel tears dripping on to his face. "but with this, you'll never have to experience this curse, and I can finally end mine." Sora felt himself slipping away.

"don't worry. We can do more in the future…when you aren't busy…" Sora whispered as he was once again overtaken by a wave of fatigue. The last thing he remembered before he slipped away was the red in his father's eyes, a red he'd never noticed up until that moment.

"This one is still alive!" Sora snapped awake. "hey don't move! That rubble is unstable" Sora pushed away a large chunk of debris as he leaned upwards to face the firefighter who was busy clearing rubble and slag away from him. Sora rubbed the dirt from his eyes and stared at the man.

"what happened here…. I had the weirdest dream." The man helped Sora to his feet and put a towel over his tattered clothing.

"how don't you remember the huge fire you were trapped in… _this guy doesn't have a scratch on him…_ " Sora's eyes lit up.

"fire?!" he looked around in horror at what was once the home he'd always known. Now reduced to a smoking pile of ash and slag. 'dad! Is he-" The man shushed him and moved his head from side to side. He pointed to a pair of body bags laying outside of an ambulance. Sora fell to his knees, unable to utter a word. In an instant the world he knew was shattered.

"two? But mom was seeing a friend." He said blankly as his eyes stared emptily at the sight. A police officer walked up behind him. And put his hand on Sora's shoulder.

"this is going to be pretty hard to hear...but I want you to come with me. We have some questions about your father."

Sora walked instinctively with the officer to a secluded corner.

"did you notice anything strange going on with your father within the last few weeks?"

"…. he seemed pale, and I got some strange vibes from him. He was working lots of overtime too…. but that was pretty normal for him." The officer jotted down a few quick notes.

"strange vibes? Explain that/"

"I…I don't know how to quantify a gut feeling. What does this have to do with anything anyway?!" the officer scratched his head and sighed.

"from what we've gathered it seems like your father went through a severe psychosis. He killed your mother a few days ago, and we think he burnt the house down to try to hide the evidence and you with it. This is a lot to hit you with all at once. And I understand it will take a while to process it."

" _a while to process it? What a fucking idiot that cop was"_ Sora drifted back to reality. He was sitting in the passenger side of a car that was driving through a pine forest.

"what are you thinking about Sora?" he looked overt to the man wearing a suit driving the car.

"what do you think genius?" he spat.

"true….it certainly is hard to forget something like that." The man slowly turned on the winding dirt road. "But that's why the caseworker decided to send you to live with your only next of kin. His name is Seshin muroi, same last name as you actually." Sora looked up irritably at the man.

"in surprised this Seshin person decided to even consider it. This is a huge burden, and I could work a job and move out on my own you know. I'll be 18 in a couple months." The man sighed.

"yeah, you told us that at length. The caseworker decided that a whole new change of scenery would be best, after all, that incident was all over the news. She thought people might give you a hard time. But when we realized that Seshin lived in a secluded village far away from the commotion of Tokyo, she immediately contacted him. Apparently when he heard the story he wanted to take you in immediately. He said something like " _it will be nice to see a new face in sotoba, that's something rare indeed_." He spoke eloquently.

"I don't even know anything about this guy, how do you know he isn't some sort of freak?" the man put a hand out to Sora in a silencing motion.

"he's he junior monk at the temple in sotoba, that's what the village is called by the way." Sora grunted angrily.

"he better not expect me to carry on the family business. I'm not really a traditionalist kind of person."

"I know you've been through a lot, but try to keep an open mind." The man said as he pulled up to the village gates.

**please leave a review/kudos ect i'd love to hear yur thoughts on the new start!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> seshin shows sora around the village and sora starts to meet the people

**heres the new chapter, these should be coming out quick for a while since i still have the spine f the original to tempt fate's plot to work with, but i hope you like it**

"so, what's this village like?" Sora asked nonchalantly as he scowled out of the opposite window to the man driving the car. The man smiled warmly at him, causing Sora to retreat deeper in the opposite direction.

"well, I've never been here either. But I did ask Seshin about it." The man paused, trying to remember something. Sora started to grow impatient and looked over to the man.

"yeah? Do you plan on telling me what he said? You'll start to catch flies if you just sit there with your mouth open like that." He retorted snidely.

"he said that the village was surrounded on all sides by thick momi fur tree forests. The village is relatively small, only about 1300 people in total. It's very religious and traditional. In fact, they still bury their dead as opposed to cremating them." he looked towards Sora who was still sulking in the corner. "cheer up, there's a school there so I'm sure you can meet people your age."

"hooray. I don't know what I would have done if there wasn't a school." He said unenthusiastically. "I take it there aren't any clubs or movie theatres or good restaurants?" the man smiled tepidly.

"afraid not."

"dad and I would always try to catch a movie or something when he was home." Sora looked away regrettably. The man grabbed his shoulder sympathetically.

"I wish I could do more to ease your grief. But even though sotoba doesn't have anything like that I'm sure the people are lovely. And on that note, were here." The man gestured for Sora to get out of the car. Sora reluctantly obliged and stepped out of the car and on to the sidewalk below. He squinted as the harsh sunlight hit him with its full force. And within seconds had to wipe his brow.

"damn, its hot as hell!" Sora exclaimed as the sweat started to sting his eyes. "I think the rubber on my shoes is melting to the pavement!" the man chuckled.

"well come with me, I'll take you up to the temple steps." The man motioned for Sora to come forward.

The two walked up the long flight of steps as the sun hit their backs. Sora had to be careful and walk slowly, lest one of the cracks in the aging stone trip him up. He slowed to look closely at the sun baked rock the steps were carved from and wondered just how long they had been there. A hundred years? A thousand? It was something trivial, but it helped put his mind at ease. As he approached the gates, a strange feeling overtook him.

" _this…feels...wrong…. it's like I'm not meant to be here. No…I'm sure it's just my nerves..."_ he hesitated at the gate as the man gestured him to come forward.

"Sora come on, you'll need to come inside" Sora could feel a fearful feeling rise in his chest.

"no…I'm….im fine right here. I don't think I'm supposed to come in." the man knocked on the gates as Sora began fiddling with a rubber band in his pocket, spinning it on his finger. It was all he could think to do to alleviate the tension.

"oh please Sora, don't be nervous. It's a temple. They welcome anyone in." Sora gave him a hesitant look.

"that's not quite it…. it's almost like I…can't…go in" Sora looked around nervously.

"don't be silly, of course you can come in" Sora looked towards the sound of a new voice and saw a man with white hair grey eyes and rimless glasses walking out of the temple gateway.

"and you are?" Sora asked boldly as he sized up the man.

"Sora, this is Seshin muroi. He's your cousin, and of course, the man who is taking you in." Sora gave him a closer look as he studied the details of the man's face and the robes he was wearing.

"yes, this man is correct. I'm from your father's side of the family, though he and I have only met once or twice." Sora looked into his eyes as he spoke.

"we have the same eyes. Though I thought only dad and I had this hazel grey color. But the white hair, definitely different from mine." Sora pointed to his own hair, which was a particularly dark brown." Seshin smiled warmly.

"listen, why don't you come with me, I'm sure the man who drove you here needs to head back." The two shook hands and thanked each other. Sora followed Seshin into the inner portion of the temple. He didn't understand everything at first, the symbols and alters that peppered the area seemed utterly alien to him.

"... _that bad feeling went away as soon as Seshin told me to come in…_ I just wanted to…." Sora stared off defiantly in the other direction…." say thanks…. I'm sure that this is as awkward for you as it is for me. I know it's gotta be a huge burden to take in a total stranger. Especially in light of what happened… _what did happen though, it's been two months since that horrible day and I still can't piece together what was going on…strange voices. That…sickness…and dad…he killed mom and tried to kill me. I've only just stopped crying, but I still have so many questions."_ Sora sat down as he wrestled with his thoughts. Seshin stopped dead in his tracks and spoke in a serious tone.

"I'd like to hear about it from you personally, but I understand that you'd probably rather forget about it. Don't worry about me pressing you, just remember that I'm always willing to listen." He gave Sora a sad smile. Sora returned one.

"I appreciate it… _we've only just met, but for some reason I'm getting good vibes from this guy"_ Seshin took him around the temple, showing him the area and how to move around efficiently in it. After a few minutes dragging Sora around the temple grounds he led him to a small room on the edge of the property directly adjacent to the main gate. He opened the door and Sora peered into a small room with one dusty window facing the forest. In the corner lay a futon and sitting on top was a small container with a few rice balls sitting in it. Sora stepped inside. "well, this is your room. If you want any other amenities you'll have to let me know, the temple might have spare chairs and desks."

"thanks again, and for the food especially…so…what now? Do you want me working for the temple or do you have some other plan? My only condition is that I refuse to take a vow of chastity." He retorted sarcastically. Seshin gave him a quick laugh.

"nothing like that. The high school starts enrolling in a few days. that's where you're going. You're a senior right?" Sora's eyes darted away as a sad thought passed through his mind.

"yeah…I'll be 18 in September…" he said somberly.

"what's wrong?" Seshin said with audible concern.

"it's just…I won't be seeing any of my friends again… I never really thought about that until now…but I don't know anyone here….my misfortune just won't end." He sighed as he stared off blankly.

"is it hard for you to make them?" Seshin sat down next to him.

"not really…I'd say I meet new people just fine…but…I plan on leaving here in a year or two to go to university like I was originally going to do, so I don't know if I should make new friends. I'd have to abandon them soon." Seshin thought for a moment.

"but you'll still be here for a while, and that's a lot of time to grind away. You only get so much in this life, and it's not like you won't ever lose friends even if you don't lose them here, so I'd say it's in your best interest to make them anyway." Sora gave him a perplexed look.

"fair enough…but forming a whole new social circle is such a drag." He stretched his arms and yawned loudly. "so…now what? Do I just sit here for a few days until school starts?"

"no, actually I'll show you around the village." The two got up from the sunny bench they had been relaxing on and Seshin walked him to the bottom of the temple steps. "here, this is my minibike" Sora gave him a dreadful stare.

'both of us on this thing?" Seshin recoiled as Sora stared daggers aa him.

"sorry, the temple car is being used right now" he smiled tepidly as he mounted the scooter. Sora hopped on behind him and grabbed his shoulders. Seshin moved the kickstand and powered the engine. It roared to life and the two took off through the main road of the village. Sora eyed everything he could, making careful note of where all the key shops and buildings were located. "and up on our right is oogowa's liquor store" Seshin shouted over the wind of the drive. "past that is the library, you'll probably need to come here to study, the records building is over here" Seshin said as he drove further down the road.

"so this is the metro area of sotoba? There really isn't much here at all. _I only saw two restaurants, and one was a bar…. I can't go into it. No shops more elaborate than a general store, so I doubt I could get anything specific. They probably don't even carry name brand snacks. Hell, the roads aren't even paved."_ Sora let out a defeated sigh.

"yeah, I know there isn't much, but try not to let it bother you, there are still things you can do here. There's a video store just past this area here" Seshin pointed to an abandoned lot.

"a lot of good that will do me without a tv." Sora snapped back.

"now were reaching the end of sotoba's commercial area. The only things left to see are coming up." Sora looked to the side and saw a row of greenhouses. There were a few men in uniforms moving trees and shrubs around. "that's the Shimizu nursery. Generally, any plants and landscape materials we use come from there, and from yasumori construction. That was the big lumber yard we passed on our way out of the temple"

"fascinating" Sora yawned.

"anyway sotoba only has three main roads, the village itself is shaped like the tip of a harpoon, and the temple is visible from basically anywhere so don't worry about getting lost" Seshin shouted over the roar of the engine. They drove for several more minutes before approaching a large building with a teal green roof and crumbling white paint on the walls. Seshin parked the minibike there. "and this is the Ozaki clinic. If you ever get hurt this is the place, you'll go. The doctor and I are good friends so I promise he'll treat you well." Sora decided to speak up at this point.

"huh…just be sure to tell him I'm terrified of needles… _maybe this doctor would know about the illness I had…"_ He shuddered as he remembered that horrible experience.

"I'll be sure to do so." Seshin smiled as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "anyway I'll drop you off at the temple, talk to my mother or father if you need anything." Seshin said as he started the engine back up.

"mother and father? How old ARE you Seshin? And why weren't they listed as some of my next of kin?" Sora asked quietly.

"I'm 32, and as for that, I'm not sure. When you get back feel free to explore the village on your own. Just be polite and don't do anything you shouldn't." Sora nodded knowingly.

"so how long until school starts back up?" he asked as Seshin walked him back up the steps to his room.

"three days, we already have a uniform in your size, the caseworker that sent you to me also shipped us some clothes for you to wear besides the ones you've got on now." Seshin pointed to the black hoodie and jeans Sora was wearing.

"Seshin…before you head out…I have to ask something. Why did you take me in? I would have just been a ward of the state for a few months at best." Seshin looked seriously at him.

"I know what it's like to be truly alone. Or to feel like you are at the very least. I wouldn't let someone else feel like that if I could help it." Sora and Seshin locked eyes for a moment.

"interesting reason…" Sora thought sadly.

**three days later**

Sora woke up in a daze. Ever since the day of the fire he'd been feeling this gnawing hunger that didn't seem to satisfy very easily. He could feel himself thinking about it on occasion and he thought it might be making him weak, not that he'd been particularly strong to begin with, but something about eating felt…. incomplete. he brushed off the feeling as a wave of anxiety replaced it. "today's the day…" he thought hesitantly as he reached for the uniform neatly folded at the foot of his bed. He looked out of the window to see a bright morning sun gently shining in. " _I used to love the sight of a morning sunrise…. but for some reason the sun just gives me a headache these days"_ he carefully slipped the uniform on and grabbed the bag of books Seshin had provide him the night before. He cracked his knuckles and stepped outside. He waved a quick goodbye to the temple patrons he'd been able to grow at least a little bit familiar with, and set out down the long flight of steps that led to the village below. He eyed the villagers nervously as he walked by. He could hear them talking about him, they said all manner of things, but the general tone of the discussion was a curious one. There was the occasional snide comment from some crotchety old man, to which Sora made it known he'd heard, but otherwise he simply let them to their own devices, paying them no attention. After a while he approached a sign.

"sotoba gateway bus stop"

Standing under it were two people that looked to be about Sora's age, or maybe a year younger. One was a boy with messy purple hair who was standing in the opposite direction of the other. A girl with pink pigtails and red hair bows. Sora could smell the perfume on her before they even noticed him walking up. The girl turned her head and looked at him, her eyes seemed to light up for a brief moment as the boy did the same. Sora hitched his bag. And looked them both over.

"this is the bus that goes to the high school right? … _what's with these two, they weren't talking when I got up here and that girl with the pigtails won't stop staring at me…"_ Sora asked tepidly. His eyes darted from one two the other. Until the boy nodded. Sora gave him a knowing stare.

"there's no sign of it yet though" the girl replied, Sora noticed her glance back to the boy.

"huh…" he replied nonchalantly. " _neither of them seem like they want to talk, so I guess it's just me and my thoughts for a while longer."_ Sora yawned loudly and began to lean against the pole the sign was nailed to. He gave both of them a once over before nodding off to sleep. He awoke several minutes later as the roar of an engine approached them. He glanced in its direction before his eyes locked with the girl. " _has she been staring at me this whole time?"_ "is that one ours?" Sora asked quietly. The boy nodded and all three stepped inside. The boy with the purple hair walked all the way to the back of the bus while Sora and the girl stayed up front. Sora picked a seat across from hers and once again tried to nod off to sleep.

"so…you're the new boy at the temple right?" Sora could hear the voice of the girl nervously calling out to him across the aisle of the bus. He opened his eyes slowly and glanced at her.

"yeah, why?" he asked lazily.

"where are you from?" she asked boldly with a high and mighty look on her face.

" _such a sudden change in her demeanor…_ Tokyo" she practically leapt into the seat he was in. he actually had to scoot closer to the window just to avoid one of her heels from poking his leg. The smile on her face stretched from ear to ear and he could see the stars in her eyes.

"really?! Oh please, you have to tell me what the big city is like! You just HAVE TO!" she inched closer.

" _what the hell is wrong with this girl?_ Well, what do you want to know?" Sora asked hesitantly as he shirked beneath her, trying to find an opening to squirm away. His efforts were futile, she had him pinned.

"EVERYTHING!" the other students were starting to look over at them, all except for the boy with purple hair. She inched ever closer to him, as if she were studying every detail of his face.

" _you're not in my personal space or anything…that's not weird…._ you're gonna have to narrow it down" he strained to say as she started to squeeze his shoulders. He could feel her nails digging in under his uniform. "you're hurting me." He said as he reached a hand out to push her back. Almost as soon as she started, she backed off hiding the red on her face.

"I'm sorry. I just got a bit carried away" she said regrettably as she faced the other direction. "well, I guess to start with. Did you ever go to clubs? What were they like?" Sora smiled politely as she turned to face him once again.

"yeah I've snuck in once or twice with friends, it's not too hard as long as you bribe the right bouncer. I'd say that dancing is pretty fun if you have the right people, they play all the latest music and things like that too… _that's actually where I was when I came home late a few days before the fire…"_

"something wrong? You looked sad."

"nothing, just a fond memory…. what's your name anyway?" she smiled devilishly as Sora asked.

"megumi shimizu, you?" he laughed tepidly.

" _this chick's a complete basketcase…_ Sora muroi…. your family owns that greenhouse right?" a dreadful look crept across her face.

"bleggg, don't remind me…that stuff is SO lame…so anyway, Sora. Why on earth would you leave such a glamorous big city life to move to this rat hole village?" the resentment in her voice was palpable.

"It wasn't really glamorous…I don't care much about the latest trends or anything…but it wasn't my choice. I liked it in the city…" he shook off a depressing thought.

"even still, was it because your parents had work or something here?" he looked away nervously.

"I'd rather not go into it…" he spat. She looked at him curiously but decided to drop the subject.

"so…were there lots of shops in the city? Like clothing stores?" her eyes lit up again.

"yeah I guess. But being the guy I am I never really went into them. I kinda just bought whatever was close to the entrance." She looked disappointed.

"I see…I've always wanted to see laforet myself, they always keep changing the exterior." Sora pitied her a bit.

"one thing I do miss especially are all the restaurants and places to eat. This entire village has two, whereas there were at least 12 on my apartment block alone." Sora started to salivate at the memory. "the convenience store here doesn't even have any good snacks." She nodded.

"this whole village sucks" megumi spat.

"yeah… I'm losing hope by the second… _she really is strange."_ Sora looked at her and couldn't help but laugh. It was the first time he'd genuinely laughed since his parents died.

**please be sure to review and everything like that, hope you enjoyed the chapter**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sora goes to the clinic

**hope you all enjoy this latest installment!**

" _this town really is ass backwards…"_ Sora sighed as the instructor at the front of the class droned on about some subject that he had no interest in. " _they're like a year behind on basically every subject. I could do this stuff in my sleep… *snore*"_ Sora leaned into folded arms on his desk and put his head down.

"Sora, if you think you know the information well enough to sleep through then by all means, answer the questions on the board." The teacher irritably pointed to a set of earth science questions on the board. Sora, fighting the urge to glare at the teacher, yawned and started rattling off the answers.

"tectonic plates, soil erosion, tidal forces, convection currents." He answered casually. The instructor looked flustered for a moment as he flipped through his textbook.

"all of you should be ashamed. You need to apply yourselves like this young man!" Sora could feel the icy stare of some of the other students barreling down at him as the teacher tried to save face.

" _thanks a lot."_ He lamented as he went back to sleep. He woke up as the lunch bell rang and he headed to the school courtyard. " _man…I feel so tired all the time lately. Seshin told me to explore the village but all I could do was sleep and laze around._ " Sora thought as he nodded off once again.

"ora-s-Sora" Sora opened his eyes slowly as he fought off the fatigue. He felt an irritable sensation as he noticed the pink hair drape over his face. he could smell that perfume again, something flowery. It wasn't a scent he particularly liked, but he much preferred it to the general smell of manure and hay that seemed to choke sotoba. "hey Sora!" he could see a smile start to creep across her face. His heart sank.

" _great…now I'm not going to get any sleep…._ hey…megumi right?" he replied dryly. She smiled again.

"yup!" she beamed "So, will you tell me more about the city?" she asked, her eyes widening as the sunlight caught her face at an odd angle. Sora gave her a blank stare.

"sure…. I guess…." She waited with eager anticipation. "why are you so obsessed with the city though?" he asked with a yawn. She glanced away.

"I hate sotoba. And I can't stand the people here either. they're all so backwards. They like living in this Podunk town where nothing changes. They laugh at me if I get dressed up to run an errand but they're the ones who look like pathetic slobs." Sora gave her an awkward look and smiled tepidly.

" _she's kinda shallow, but then again, I don't like it here either…_ sorry to hear that." He yawned "megumi, I've gotta go use the bathroom" he said as he abruptly walked away. Sora staggered through the halls of the small school and quickly slipped into the restroom. As he walked towards the mirror he could see how haggard he was becoming. His hair was messy and he could see bags forming under his eyes. His lips were cracked and pale and his skin wasn't looking much better. " _it's like I'm wasting away…I look like I did back before the fire..."_ he checked his arms for bug bites in a quick spurt of paranoia. "I'm fine." He said aloud as he splashed water on his face. He sighed as he looked at himself again. Suddenly he felt an arm on his shoulder.

"hey, you're the one from the bus stop right?" a tired voice called to him. He looked over to see the boy with purple hair washing his hands next to him. Sora jumped in surprise.

"yeah. My name is Sora. You?" the teen didn't even look Sora in the eye as he replied.

"yuuki, or koide. Whatever is fine." He replied blankly. Sora turned his water off and paused as the last drop fell from the faucet.

"parents not married or something?" Sora replied in jest. The teenager gave him a bitter scowl. "sorry if I hit a nerve." Sora replied awkwardly. "it's just, in Tokyo a lot of kids were like that, two last names and all" his expression lightened up.

"not gonna give me a hard time about it like the villagers?" he stared daggers at Sora. Sora gave him an irritable look of his own.

"why would I? can't I just call you by your first name? two names are confusing." Sora tried to smile but felt a wave of weakness and had to steady himself on the sink. Natsuno gave him a concerned look for a brief second before trying to cover it up.

"something wrong?" he said in that same "always irritated" tone.

"I don't know…lately I've just been feeling really weak. Maybe I've got low blood sugar or anemia or something" he said as a migraine hit him full force. He grabbed the sides of his head and groaned. "don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Anyway, what did you want? Your original reason." He stuttered through the pain. Yuuki gave him a tepid look.

"I just wanted to say that you should probably avoid shimizu…she's…. odd" Natsuno sighed.

"I don't know; she just seems kinda lonely to me" Sora groaned as another migraine hit him. Natsuno grabbed Sora's chin and looked him over quickly.

"go to the clinic after school" he said as he abruptly walked away.

**A few hours later.**

Sora grabbed his leather bag and slowly dragged himself away from the classroom. As he paced through the old building that the village called a school he found the main entrance and stepped back into the bright sunlight. Sora had to squint as his eyes strained in the harsh light. He looked in the direction of the clinic, he shivered and continued to walk. It was only for a few moments before another weak feeling overpowered him, so he walked over to a large pine tree at the side of the road, he looked over the bark and stuck his hands in a place where sap wasn't flowing and took a deep breath.

"Sora!"

" _oh god…"_ he lamented as he heard that voice.

"I didn't see you after lunch, where did you go?" he feigned a polite smile as megumi walked over to him.

"sorry, I didn't know the school had no cafeteria, so I had nothing to eat or drink and I ended up getting a drink in the bathroom sink." He rubbed his head as another headache hit him, megumi looked concerned as he groaned from the pain.

"what's wrong?" she asked softly as she looked his face over. "you look like crap." She retracted her hand when she noticed how unkempt he was becoming. " _ew"_ she thought to herself.

"that's what I'm going to find out…" he sighed.

"what do you mean by that?" she asked innocently.

"I'm going to the clinic…maybe they can figure out what's wrong with me…hey, that's an interesting dress" Sora said. "did you change after we got out of school?" she flashed an embarrassed smile in his direction as she spun around in an elegant pink summer dress with black ruffles.

"oh, I can walk you there, we can talk more about the city!" she smiled excitedly.

" _screw that your crazy bitch!_ fine…" Sora reluctantly agreed.

The two set off on the path to the clinic, megumi all the while asking Sora as many questions she could think of. After each answer she seemed to like, she'd let out a sort of squealy giggling, but as the two got closer to the metro area of sotoba Sora heard megumi ask fewer and fewer questions. And after each response she seemed to get more reserved and quiet, if Sora had to guess she even seemed to get depressed. That's when he noticed the voices. He didn't pay much attention what with with Megumi''s excited inquiry, but now that she was growing quiet he could hear them clearly. All around him he could hear the dissenting whispers and clicking tongues of the villagers.

" _she's such a strange girl."_

" _that girl really likes to show herself off, she's probably shacking up with the new student already."_

" _slut"_

" _and that boy, Seshin offered his home to a total stranger? What kind of relationship do they have?"_

" _I didn't know Seshin was into that kind of thing!"_

" _wasn't he the victim of some sort of tragedy, he must have so many psychological problems, shame on shimizu for taking advantage of him!"_

Sora gritted his teeth and abruptly stopped, megumi didn't notice and in her somber walk accidentally bumped into him.

" _when she said they laughed at her I just thought they were teasing her…but this is vicious. She must have very few, if any, friends at all in this village if everyone is talking about her like that."_ Sora looked back over to megumi who had a sad, yet angry look in her eye. He could see tears begin to pool in the corners of her eyes.

"what did they mean you were the victim of some kind of tragedy?" she asked with a quiver in her voice.

"don't worry about it. Let's just walk faster alright?" she nodded in agreement and the two made a break for the Ozaki clinic. After what seemed like hours of walking, the two finally arrived at the foot of the building. Sora and megumi walked up to the entrance and he knocked on the door. A man with messy brown hair and a thick five o clock shadow walked to the entrance holding a cigarette.

"welcome to the Ozaki clinic. How can I help you." He looked over and saw megumi, a funny smile crept across his face. "megumi…let me guess, you've got a stomach ache again, what test are you trying to avoid this time?" he replied jokingly. Megumi smiled politely.

"actually…I'm the one who wants to see you" Sora replied weakly. The doctor nodded and invited the two in.

"alright Sora, come with me. Let's take a look at you in the exam room." Ozaki led him away from megumi sitting in the lounge.

"how did you know my name?" Sora replied. The doctor took a drag on his cigarette and laughed.

"Seshin told me about you….and what happened." The doctor said more seriously. He put a hand on the teens shoulder. "listen, I wouldn't tell the other villagers, they can be a bit…less understanding…than other people." Sora gave him a straight look.

"yeah. I learned that first hand on the walk over here," he glanced at megumi who was looking at him through the opening. Ozaki nodded knowingly.

"either way, tell me what's wrong. I can see from here you look pretty sick, but I need to hear what you have to say." He told Sora to take off his shirt and started to examine him.

"well…. lately I've been feeling really weak. Blurred vision, fatigue, headaches, trouble standing, and I've been sleeping all the time."

And how long has this been going on?" Ozaki took notes.

"I'd say I started to feel weak about two weeks after my parents…" the doctor shushed him

"I understand"

"and then the other symptoms started to slowly build up over the course of two months. It was only after I got here that they hit this peak…" the doctor took more notes.

"well, you've been through a lot of stress lately, grief from what happened. And then the move... have you been eating enough lately?" the doctor said as he produced a small syringe. Sora's skin went cold as he saw it.

'w-well I'd say maybe not as much as I should be…doc what are you doing with that thing?" Sora stuttered.

"I'm just going to run a quick blood test. What's your blood type Sora?" Sora gulped.

"its…is…. o negative." He said as fear started to build with every inch closer the doctor got with the needle.

"oh, don't worry, Seshin told me about your little phobia. I won't do anything until you tell me to." He laughed as he put the needle behind his back. "here, feel any better now that you can't see it?" the doctor smiled warmly.

"yeah… a bit…. let's keep it that way." Sora stuttered. The doctor gave off a soothing presence and Sora for some reason felt safe around him. Then again Sora never was a very good judge of character. The doctor walked behind him and took hold of one of his arms.

"ready?" Sora nodded and looked away. He shuddered as the doctor drew out a sample of blood. "alright, I'll just run this through our machine" he said as he placed the sample in a test tube. The two sat in silence for a moment until the machine started printing out results. The doctor took a quick look at them. "oh my…looks like you've got some pretty severe anemia. It's a good thing you came here when you did, a few more days of this and you could have been in serious trouble. The good news is; we can fix this today. The bad news is you'll need a blood transfusion, which of course means more needles" Ozaki chuckled. Sora looked over to megumi who was quietly smiling at him.

"all right." Sora lamented as he stared at megumi. " _I don't want to give her of all people a reason to make fun of me…"_ A red haired nurse prepared a bag of blood and a syringe with a small tube attached to it. At first Sora felt an uncomfortable pressure, but as the procedure continued he felt a wave of ecstasy wash over him, in fact he felt something odd, a satisfying feeling that he knew was familiar but couldn't quite place his finger on. "ow!"

"what's wrong Sora?" the doctor asked as he motioned for a nurse.

"nothing…I…just bit my tongue." He said looking down curiously. The doctor nodded and finished up the transfusion. He gave him another quick look over.

"you already look much better. Now I'll need you to come by tomorrow so I can do a follow up exam, just gotta make sure you didn't have any allergic reaction to the blood." Sora nodded and the two walked back into the waiting room. He felt a cold shiver as an old woman walked up to megumi.

"ugh you again? Did you catch something from one of the students you've been seeing?" Sora felt a surge of anger and walked up behind the woman. "this is a reputable clinic, and we don't treat diseases like that." She said matter of factly. Megumi looked like she might burst into tears.

"the hell is your problem lady?!" she turned in surprise to see Sora standing a few feet behind her, seething with rage. She saw the look in his eye and stepped backwards a few feet. She regained her composure and tried to save face.

"don't you dare talk to me like that! I am your elder and you will treat me with the respect I deserve!" she yelled back. Sora simply and calmly walked right up to her face and stared her in the eye.

"kiss. My. Ass." He snarled. He felt a hot wave of pain wash over his face as the woman reared her hand back and smacked him right in the face.

"I know you. You're the one who moved here because Seshin took you in. parents abandoned you because you couldn't behave or something?" she retorted. Sora could feel himself disconnect as he cracked both knuckles and raised a fist.

"MOTHER! Go in the other room, we need to talk!" doctor Ozaki snarled as he held the back of Sora' s arm. After she left he whispered in Sora's ear. "I'm sorry about her… I know she can get under people's skins, but try to keep a lid on your temper, trust me when I say it's not worth it. I'll tell Seshin about this so you won't get in any trouble. God knows she'll spread this all over the village." He nodded a thank you to the doctor and grabbed megumi away.

"let's get out of here megumi. Thanks for treating me doc…. I appreciate it" he said as he handed the doctor money for the exam. Megumi nodded and the two walked out of the clinic.

"Sora…" megumi said quietly.

"yeah?" he looked back as the two walked along.

"thank you…for defending me I mean… _his hands are still shaking with rage…. what could have happened to him to make him that angry?"_ he smiled.

"don't mention it… _that's the first time I've ever been tempted to hit a woman…"_ she hesitated for a moment.

"will you tell me why that last comment of hers got you so pissed though?" she said with a meek frown. Sora kept walking, almost ignoring the question entirely.

"like I said on the bus…. I don't want to go into it okay…not right now. Let's just get you home." She nodded quietly. "though I will say that that blood transfusion seemed to work. I feel fantastic!" he smiled as the sunlight washed over his face.

" _you look a lot better too."_ Megumi thought as her face flushed red.

**be sure to review, let me know what could be improved, what you liked ect.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sora and megumi share a moment, and the family moves in to the mansion up on the hill

****

**here you all go hope you like!**

A few days after Sora left the clinic he heard a curious rumor circulating around the school.

"have you heard Sora? The people moved in to the big mansion yesterday! in the middle of the night for some odd reason," megumi beamed. Sora was busy chewing on an orange slice as megumi seemed to lose herself in her own world. He turned casually and acknowledged her question.

"oh, that big house, I keep asking people about it but all they say is that the building was finished a couple months ago but no one ever bothered to move in…" he said as he greedily ate the rest of the orange…" not that m complaining, but why do you always give me your lunch?" Sora said as he stared down at an ornate box filled with food. Megumi sighed condescendingly.

"it's not JUST a house Sora. Its art! It's the most gorgeous mansion I've ever seen!" she held her hands up to her cheeks and smiled as her face went flush red. "it would be a dream come true to live there" she said as she stared over to Natsuno, sitting several seats away.

"…gorgeous house…that's all well and good, but what does that have to do with giving me your lunch? Don't you get hungry?" he heard her stomach rumble as he ate another side dish from the box. She eyed it longingly, but seemed to steel herself from the food's temptation, instead looking back over to Natsuno once more.

"I'm on a diet. I have to keep my perfect figure after all." She smiled haughtily as she pressed a hand out to Sora's face. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. When he noticed her staring away at Natsuno, a sadistic thought passed through his mind. He got Megumi''s attention again and immediately started to slowly and deliberately eat the food in front of her, making sure she could see every delicious bite go down his throat.

"mhh, such wonderful flavor!" he smiled devilishly. "your mom really is a great cook." Her stomach growled again. she clicked her tongue derisively at him in that arrogant way of hers. Megumi sighed and started to stare at daydream about the house again. Sora finished what was left in the box and passed it back to her, though she didn't notice as she was lost in her fantasy.

"you keep staring longingly at Natsuno, why not just go talk with him? _And maybe leave me alone"_ megumi jumped from her seat, astonished Sora noticed her staring. He smiled wolfishly at her.

"I have…. but he never says anything back. He never even bothers to look at me, not even once." She looked down and Sora could see the melancholy all over her face, he felt a pang of sympathy, but looked over to Natsuno, not totally unable to understand his resentment towards megumi. She certainly was an acquired taste.

" _I'd avoid shimizu if I were you. She's…odd"_ Natsuno's words echoed in Sora's mind as he gazed over at her daydreaming with an innocent look on her face. He smiled. " _she seems pretty harmless…. A bit shallow and pretty annoying, but harmless."_

**After school**

Sora carefully slipped away from the building hoping that no one would notice, his head veered from left to right and he tip toed out of the building towards the main road.

"Sora!"

" _fuck"_ his heart dropped when he heard Megumi''s voice. He tried to walk faster but she caught up with him, panting a bit as she matched his stride.

"hey, I was wondering if you would come with me while I run errands around town." She said as she smiled and skipped excitedly. Sora could feel bags forming under his eyes as her unique personality started to tire him out. He wiped the sweat from his forehead as the two continued to walk in the hot weather.

"what do you need me for?" she looked up at him with a hint of regret on her face. She was about to say something when another voice rang out behind them

"hey megumi!"

"walk faster" she whispered as she aggressively nudged Sora to push along, he glanced back to see a short girl with brown hair and star shaped pigtails closing the gap between the two. In her hand was a leash and a few feet ahead was a small dog dragging on it as hard as it could. Sora could see it straining and choking itself trying to get closer to them, barking with a high pitched squeal that caused both megumi and Sora to cringe.

"megumi did you get the homework for today? I got busy at practice and couldn't get it." The girl smiled at the two and Sora returned a kind smile of his own.

"kaori…. no." she said with a hiss in her voice as she turned and walked on, dragging on Sora's shirt collar.

"hold up megumi! I'm gonna choke!" Sora spat angrily as he swatted her hand away "who's this little guy?" he asked with a kind smile on his face as he bent down to pet the dog.

"his name is love, and you must be Sora right?" Sora nodded as he reached towards the dog. Suddenly he heard a gut wrenching snarl and enraged barking. He looked over to see the dog foaming at the mouth trying to attack his hand as it snarled viciously. Sora snatched his hand away and took a few steps backwards. He flashed the girl a tepid smile.

"I guess he doesn't like me." He said awkwardly. Kaori scolded the dog and clasped her hands apologetically to Sora.

"I'm so sorry! He's usually such a sweet dog!" her face was flush red

"let's GO Sora!" megumi angrily grabbed his arm and started to pull him away.

"well I guess I have to go kaori." Sora said sarcastically. She smiled.

"megumi, let me come by later, we can study together!" she called as megumi drug him along the path into inner sotoba. Sora caught up with megumi as she raced down the sidewalk.

"what the hell was going on with you back there?" he asked, slightly irritated that megumi tried to force him along.

"don't worry about it. Just some girl who thinks I'm her friend" she looked away from Sora as she extended a hand towards him "hmp"

"give her a chance, she seems nice." Sora said casually. Megumi looked him dead in the eye and stuck her tongue out.

"blegghh, gag. kaori is so rustic it's crazy, besides, as if I'd ever hang out with a villager." She said, over embellishing the disgust in her voice.

"so anyway, why did you want me coming with you?" She looked around and kept walking nervously.

"they don't say those awful things to me when you're here" Sora could see tears pooling in her eyes. "ever since that day in the clinic, all the villagers know you'll say something back. I guess they're too cowardly to confront people…they're all horrible. Every last freaking one!" Sora nodded in understanding and hurried megumi along.

"what was it you needed to do anyway?" he asked as the two rushed through the main walkway in the center of the village.

"I need to pick up a few groceries, and I wanted to grab something to eat." Sora gave her a queer look.

"why would you give me your lunch if you plan on eating out anyway?" the two sat down on a bench across the street from the restaurant.

"it's your fault" she squealed. "you sat there and made me watch as you ate MY food. Hmp." She turned her head in faux disgust. Sora returned to staring at the entrance, unfazed by Megumi''s bogus accusation.

"hey Natsuno's going in there. And some blonde guy too" Sora casually blurted out as megumi had her head turned. She turned around, slightly surprised, and got a closer look. She turned her head away again, this time Sora could see resentment on her face.

"we can eat later if you want… I'd understand" she whispered as she looked longingly towards the inside of the restaurant.

" _does she think her crush on Natsuno bothers me or something?"_ he looked over at her and laughed. "megumi I don't care. You're obviously hungry… _and thirsty…"_ she smiled and the two walked in. Sora took a moment to bask in the cool air conditioning the restaurant was pumping. He moaned as the cool air penetrated every pore of his skin, it was a welcome shift from the blistering dry heat outside. Sora leaned in to Megumi''s ear and stared to whisper. "hey, if we act like a couple Natsuno might get jealous… _maybe you guys can hit it off and I can finally get some alone time"_ she gave him an odd look, something in her eyes was almost pleading him not to go through with the idea.

"what? are you sure? Wont you get jealous? "she asked innocently. Sora couldn't hold back his laughter.

"no, why would I? hahaha" megumi shot him an angry glance that went unnoticed as Sora wiped tears away from his eyes.

"fine… _jerk_ " She spat. He smiled awkwardly as they walked up to a table behind Natsuno. Sora took one look at the irritated scowl on her face and immediately moved his chair back.

" _jeeze, what did I say? She's staring daggers at me." Sora wondered._ Natsuno looked over briefly at the two, sighed and turned back to the friend he was sitting with.

"so Tohru, have you gotten the books I need?" Natsuno asked with the usual irritation in his voice. The teenager sitting across from him had a big goofy smile on his face, he ran a hand through his messy blonde hair and his cheeks went red.

"yeah…about that…hehe" he laughed nervously. Natsuno gave him a dreadful look.

"of course you forgot. Why would I expect anything?" he grumbled. Tohru leaned away when he heard how angry Natsuno's voice was. He quickly looked around to distract Natsuno when he saw Sora in the seat behind him. He turned and smiled at him.

"Sora hey!" Sora turned and gave the teenager a queer look. "how have you been adjusting to sotoba?" he asked with that same grin.

"fine I guess…. it's a boring place though….by the way, who are you?" he was skeptical of the mysterious person socializing with him as if they'd know each other for years.

"it's me, Tohru. I'm in the same senior class as you, don't you pay attention when they take attendance?" Sora chuckled.

"not really, every subject in this school is like a year behind mainstream, so I pretty much know everything I need to already." He shot Tohru a playfully snide smile.

"yeah, I forgot haha. Anyway what are you and shimizu doing here?" he looked over to megumi and smiled. She returned it by tilting her head away and grunting irritably.

"we're on a date you **rudely** interrupted." She said maliciously. He flashed her a tepid smile.

"I'll let you get back to it then, oh Sora be sure to study with me sometime, I'd love to get a jump on this stuff and coast through the year" Sora smiled politely and nodded in agreement

"let's order something!" megumi exclaimed excitedly as she smiled warmly at him. The two called for a waiter and megumi went first. "I'll have these" she pointed to a row of dumplings pictured on the menu. Sora took his own and pointed to a picture across from the item megumi saw.

"this, cheese croissants" suddenly a powerful feeling overtook him "and the small strip steak…extra rare…" he said as his mouth watered.

"okay sure" the waiter wrote down their orders quickly and left the two to their own devices.

"so classes really are a year behind here?" megumi asked innocently enough.

"yeah, this place is completely ass backwards." Sora said as he leaned back and tipped in his chair. Megumi put her finger up to her mouth and looked at Sora longingly.

So…you'll study with me too right?" she asked as her eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

"you can go easy on the romantic stuff, Natsuno isn't looking yet." Sora yawned. Megumi looked a bit angry. After a few minutes Sora could smell the food cooking, and almost immediately turned his head to see the waiter setting plates on their table. His eyes watered at the sight of it. Beautifully presented especially for a small village like this, Sora grabbed a knife and began to cut in to the meat. A wave of ecstasy overtook him when the metallic scent of blood from the steak wafted up to his nose.

"open up Sora." Megumi said with a cheerful smile on her face as she held up a piece of food to his mouth. He glanced back.

"Natsuno still isn't looking, you don't have to act like this if you don't want to, hahaha." She glared at him for a moment before pressing the food gently to his cheek.

"go on." She smiled again. Sora looked around awkwardly and opened his mouth, taking the bite. She opened her mouth looking at Sora expectantly.

"what?" he asked. "is something wrong?" she stared daggers at him.

"feed me too." She tried to say with her mouth still agape.

"megumi I don't think it's working, maybe we should try something else." Sora said casually. She prodded him and he reluctantly cut a piece from the meat dropping it gently on her tongue. She smiled for a brief moment and started to chew.

"bleghh! Eww! It's like eating a bloody ice cube!" she squealed as she spat it out, rubbing her tongue with a napkin. 'ughh, why do you get it cooked like that?" she looked at him crossly. Sora gave her an irritated glance.

"you're the one who insisted I feed you! Don't you remember me ordering a rare steak? What did you think you were going to get?" Sora yelled back.

"I just thought it would be romantic, why would you ruin the moment?" she indignantly squealed.

"it doesn't matter, Natsuno wasn't looking anyway." Sora said with tired resignation. He rubbed his head and looked back up to see megumi, in tears. "sorry I couldn't make it work, but that's no reason to get so upset." Sora said, more softly this time. Megumi looked even madder as she got up from the seat.

"I don't care about him." She spat bitterly as she walked away, leaving Sora confused.

He spent the next few minutes racking his brain about it, about all the signs and hints megumi had given him, and finally the realization hit.

"this was a real date to her…" he whispered guiltily. He placed a few bills for the food on the table and nearly flew out of the restaurant. " _I shouldn't care…I should be glad she won't want to hang around me…I hoped that she'd spend time with Natsuno and leave me alone…but I feel so horrible…I don't want her to be upset…for some reason…I can't stand the thought of it"_ Sora's mind was racing as he looked around for megumi. He combed the street until finally he saw her sitting alone on a bench. A few villagers were standing nearby gossiping to themselves, Sora raced over to her, and as soon as they saw him, left in a hurry. "megumi! I'm so sorry!" Sora panted as he ran up to her. Sweat from the heat started to pool in his eyes and he could feel it stinging his eyes, causing him to tear up.

"what's wrong with me Sora?" megumi turned a tearful face and looked him dead in the eye.

"what do you mean by that?" Sora asked softly as he sat down next to her.

"why doesn't anyone accept me? First this whole damn village, then Natsuno, and you. Why do you all treat me so badly?" she asked mid sob.

"I'm so sorry… _that's right…she takes this abuse from the villagers every day…I knew it was cruel, but this must be a deep psychological issue for her…it's no wonder she latched on to Natsuno and I so quickly. We weren't from here, and she must have assumed we'd accept her automatically, that's probably why she comes on so strongly, as if we've been friends for years…."_ Sora sighed and put an arm around her shoulder. "I know this might sound cheap, but I wasn't treating you like that to be mean…I just didn't know how you truly felt. It was my own fault, not something that you did." He said as she started to sob into his shoulder.

"why do they all have to be so mean!? Why?! What did I ever do?" she began to cry hysterically and Sora pulled her in closer, resting his head on hers.

" _now it's all starting to make sense…the flashy clothes, her…unique…personality, she wants approval and attention from someone, but every time she tries something they just laugh at her or scold her…and now she can't trust anyone from the village"_ Sora thought back to kaori… " _even if they are genuine"_ Sora could feel a pit of guilt starting to form in his stomach…" _even I resented her a bit…"_

"I don't understand…" she moaned through her tears.

"megumi…. I know how you feel. I know what it's like to go through hell and betrayal like that. To spend every waking night wondering if things are the way they are because of me. Did I do something wrong? Have I angered god? Why did things turn out like this?" Sora rattled off a few questions like that, trying not to get caught up in his own words.

"what are you talking about?" she asked through another wave of crying.

"the reason I had to come to sotoba…my father…. he…" she looked at him with wide, sad eyes as he choked on what he was saying

"he what?" she asked quietly. Tears were pooling in Sora's eyes as he tried to find the words to explain his situation.

"he killed my mother. He went psychotic and drained every last drop of blood from her body. The bastard even hid her in our apartment until he got scared and burned it down with me inside…he tried to take me with him to hide the evidence!" Sora spat through tears of his own. "I don't know why, but I even remember him trying to talk with me as he lit the place up." Megumi looked on, face stained with mascara, horrified at the story Sora told her.

"my god...I…I don't even know what to say" she stuttered as Sora clutched on to her. His hands started to shake. "I'm so sorry." She whispered. They held each other for a while like that. Sora and megumi looked into each other's eyes. They could see the pain the other was hiding, and they leaned in. they had a quick kiss, Sora backed away out of instinct, uncertain how to handle the situation. His face went flush red and he laughed nervously.

"well that was…" he fumbled his words as the rush of endorphin flooded his mind. Megumi looked red as well, an awkward smile crept across her face.

"yeah..." she stuttered.

"just one thing though…why did your feelings shift from Natsuno to me?" he asked hesitantly. She looked around.

"I'm not sure…maybe because you actually talked with me, or maybe because of that day in the clinic…it's not really something I can explain." Sora nodded in understanding.

"look, it's getting late. Let me walk you home" megumi smiled and Sora put his arm around her as the two walked towards her house.

**Several hours later.**

"Sora?" Seshin grabbed Sora's attention from the book he was reading and smiled at him.

"yeah? What's up Seshin?" Sora yawned.

"I'm sure you've heard, but the family who owns the mansion moved in. I want you to take that letter and the basket to them as a housewarming present from the temple." He handed Sora a small package. Sora's eyes lit up.

"you'd trust me with something like this?" he said as pride started to fill his mind. "are you sure? I don't want to mess it up… _Seshin actually wants my help with something? Ever since I got here he's pretty much left me alone so it's nice to feel needed for once."_ Sora nodded in approval and took the package.

"normally I'd handle something like this myself, but there were a few deaths up in an isolated part of the village called yamairi, I've got to go perform last rights. Besides, it would be a good chance for you to meet some new people, who knows what kinds of opportunities they might have." Seshin smiled and walked off, leaving Sora with the basket. He shrugged and followed him out of the temple. They talked for a few more moments as they headed down the steps, but once they reached the bottom, their paths split in opposite directions, Sora to the east, Seshin to the west.

Sora glanced at the sky, taking in the rich hues of the twilight that bathed the village as he waked up the hill to the large mansion.

"this place is a fucking castle…" Sora said as he craned his neck upwards to see the building in its entirety. There were several small towers and outcroppings linked to a massive ground floor, all lined with a beautiful white marble, and the roof was made of a complimentary blue stone, Sora assumed was perhaps jade. A large stone wall surrounded the area and gave the place a formidable edge to match its elegance. Truly it was the focal point of the entire village. And in the center of the entrance stood a large red gate, it had two sinister looking points that were forged into the metals shape. Sora almost felt intimidated as he walked up to the gates.

Without even knocking on them, the gates to the mansion opened for him.

**as always i crave your feedback so please, please feel free to let me know what you thought, good or bad lol, hoped you liked have, a good one ect**


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sora visits the kirashikis

**here, its a little short today, but the implications of this chapter would probably take thier own chapter to explain and write so i figured i'd just give you the meat and potatoes now as opposed to just pounding you with raw information, not to say the next chapter will be only information and expletives lol, i just thought it would ruin the feel if i put the aftermath in the same chapter, of course i'll package it in an entertaining way like i always do, but i figured this would give you a craving taste**

"so how many have we turned?" a large man with blue hair asked casually as he lit a candle. He sat back in a lavish chair and held up an extravagant wine glass filled halfway with a rich red liquid.

"a security guard. And a couple others" a little girl walked up to the chair across from him and starting pouring a glass of her own. The room they were sitting in was dimly lit, a cold ambiance accompanied only by the dim amber light of the candle provided any warmth to the scene.

"Sunako, are you sure that three will be enough to start with?" he asked innocently. She gave him a sly smile.

"but we've got you Tatsumi, chizuru, Yoshie, ebuchi and shizuka, along with the new three, and myself, that makes nine." She drank the wine in her glass slowly, savoring each sip.

"too bad that guy burnt himself to a crisp…we'd have ten if not for that. Maybe even eleven, he was feeding on his son before he died. Why did you go after him anyway? We were just supposed to target loners and people who wouldn't be missed." Sunako smiled and thought vividly.

"they were such a cute family! I couldn't help but want them." She held her hands to her cheeks and blushed. "oh could you imagine our own settlement with cute families walking around like that?" she giggled shrilly. Tatsumi gave her a tepid smile.

"we've got the preparations for that house completely finished, and we can move in at any time…but…before we do...are you sure this is what you want? Turning and killing hundreds of people? It's not like you're alone so…do you need this?" he asked hesitantly. She walked over and gave him a pat on the head before smiling malevolently.

"I need a place to truly call home. I **need** a place where I can walk on the streets without fear. I NEED a place where no one else will judge me because of this "affliction". I need this. I truly do, Tatsumi" she said with an almost frightening conviction.

**Meanwhile**

"what a pain… of all the places Sunako could have gone, it's this sad little village…" Tatsumi thought as he drifted back to reality. *sniff sniff* "something smells odd." He looked over outside the window of the spire he was sitting in and saw someone standing at the foot of the mansion's big forged gate. "first victim. I almost feel sorry for the poor kid." He sighed.

Sora stared up in amazement as the gates opened, revealing the massive structure held behind the thick stone wall. He had to crane his neck to look at the highest parts of the mansion. He could see it almost glow against the night sky, its creaky spires cut through the heavens and the whole place felt ominous, Though Sora didn't take much notice as he lost himself in the incredible sight.

"quite impressive isn't it?" an elegant well-spoken voice rang through Sora's ears. He instantly locked eyes with a man in an odd looking dress suit with a rifle strapped to his back, along with another muscular man with blue hair that ended in points. Sora thought that they looked almost like cat ears.

" _that guy with the hair smells weird…and what's up with the gun?"_ he writhed his nose as he chuckled over their strange style. "yeah, this place really is incredible. I can't imagine the time and money you must have sunken into it." The two smiled politely as Sora looked the place over.

"oh yes, it was quite an undertaking. Either way, what can I do for you, young man?" the man walked over to Sora and put a hand on his shoulder.

"here, the village temple wanted to offer you a housewarming gift." Sora held up the basket and the letter. The man took them from his hands and smiled warmly.

"the walk here must have been exhausting, why don't you come in for some tea." He extended a hand which Sora shook.

"I guess so, Seshin isn't expecting me back for a few hours… _wow! I can't wait to see the inside!"_ he looked over to the man, and his servant. "my name is muroi Sora by the way." He said as the tree walked along.

"kirashiki Seshiro" the man friendlily replied as a smile crept across his face.

"and I'm Tatsumi!" the man with blue hair enthusiastically exclaimed. "it's a pleasure to meet you." He clasped his hands together and bowed. Sora gave him a tepid smile.

"it's nice to meet you too… _his voice sounds familiar…but I can't put my finger on it_ " He awkwardly replied. Tatsumi stood up from his bow and the two looked at each other, deadly seriously, for a brief moment.

" _he smells really weird"_ they both thought in unison. They shrugged the feeling off and continued to walk inside. As they walked down the long corridor, Sora studied the immaculate interior of the house closely. The walls were the brightest shade of white with ornate gold trimming, alabaster columns dotted the area. The place had a surreal, elegant feel to it. It was almost as if Sora had walked into a medieval ballroom complete with high ceilings and intricate chandeliers.

"as you can see I spared no expense in design and construction." Seshiro said as the three walked along.

"master has excellent taste you see." Tatsumi beamed.

"yeah, no kidding." Sora said as he panned around the room. Seshiro led the three to a small ornate table tucked away in the corner of the room as Tatsumi prepared a tea pot.

"so tell me about yourself Sora, are you a studying monk at this temple?" Sora almost spat his tea out laughing.

"oh hell no." he chuckled. "I…lost my family….and Seshin, the junior monk, took me in because he was my next of kin." Sora tried his best not to look sad in front of Seshiro. But the man could tell regardless and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I understand. Well I'm glad I moved to a village where the people are kind enough to do something like that." Sora looked away awkwardly.

" _I'd say Seshin is an exception…most of the villagers seem pretty vile to me…_ I hope you like living here." Sora whispered. "so, about you…I have so many questions myself. But I guess the first one…." Sora stared at the rifle strapped to the man's back. "the gun…what's the story with it?" he said as he felt a pang of uneasiness at the sight of it. Seshiro laughed heartily.

"oh this old thing? I collect them. I just happened to be cleaning it when you showed up at my door so I had no time to put it away." Sora breathed a sigh of relief.

"alright, next question, why move to sotoba? Surely with the capital to build a place like this you could have moved somewhere like a tropical island." Sora sipped the tea.

"I actually read one of the books Seshin wrote and thought that this place would be lovely to live." Sora looked at him in suparis.

"Seshin writes books?" Seshiro nodded and plucked one from the bookshelf sitting behind him. It had an elaborate purple color with light pink embroidering.

" _I remember mom reading a book like that once, I guess it would make sense…_ damn. The more you know…." Seshiro looked to the side, distracted by a noise.

"ah, my wife and daughter are awake. You should finish your tea, they hate the smell, so I have to sneak this flavor when they aren't around" Sora obliged and quickly gulped down the rest of the cup. He heard the noise too. Two sets of footsteps walking down the hall. Suddenly a beautiful blonde woman with pale skin and dark eyes, along with a girl who was maybe thirteen walking close behind her, stepped into the room.

"oh? We have a guest?" they both said in unison. Seshiro nodded and beckoned for Sora to introduce himself.

"my name is muroi Sora, it's a pleasure to meet you… _damn! this woman is prettier than megumi! Same style too, flashy clothes sort of like a movie star."_ Sora blushed when he looked upon her face.

"My my, what a handsome young man you are!" she walked behind him and leaned into the back of his neck. He could feel her chest pressing against him and he could smell her perfume, another gaudy flowery scent. He could feel his cheeks becoming hot red and pulled away out of instinct.

"t-than-k you…" he stuttered as sweat started to bead up on his forehead. She chuckled as she noticed him blush. Sora took a moment to clear his throat and regain his composure.

"so, what's your name?" he asked nervously as he tried to change the subject. She laughed haughtily, like megumi would.

"kirashiki chizuru, and this is our daughter Sunako." The girl walked from behind her mother and curtsied with her dress.

"it's a pleasure. So is it true that you're related to Mr. muroi?" the girl asked. Sora looked at her dark eyes curiously. It seemed as if they were trying to feign interest, like an imitation of an emotion. There was something cold to them, and to chizuru's.

"you mean Seshin?... _her voice sounds really familiar too…I get a bad feeling in the pit of my gut with every word she says…I KNOW I've heard her voice before…but where?_ yeah, Seshin is my cousin. I lost my family and he took me in… _I hate having to explain things twice…"_ Sunako walked up and patted Sora on the head. He stared awkwardly.

"I'm truly sorry. Loss is the worst kind of pain a human can bear." She said eloquently.

" _she seems so much older than she actually is…"_ Sora yawned. He looked over at Seshiro and noticed a full glass of tea.

"hey, you've still got some tea, I thought your wife didn't like how it smelled or something." Sora casually pointed out. Seshiro chuckled.

"oh, my I must have forgotten." Sora could hear shuffling behind him, and turned to see Sunako and chizuru holding his arms. He tensed up as he stared into the black pits that were their eyes. A horrible feeling of uneasiness washed over him.

"I think I should go. It was nice chatting with you." Sora said as he abruptly stood up and pulled his arms free.

"are you sure? You must be getting tired, why not stay and rest up before you leave." He heard chizuru speak. There was almost a…hunger…to her voice.

"yeah, call and have Mr. muroi pick you up. I'd love to meet him; his books were brilliant." She said, with that same hungry tone of voice chizuru had.

"you can just come by the temple. I really have to leave now." Sora said sternly as he felt the fear creep up his spine.

"oh please stay" chizuru walked closer to him and put her chest on his arm. Sora took one look at her open mouth and nearly pissed himself.

" _fangs?!"_ two, inch long, ivory white fangs replaced what were her canine teeth. Sora could feel his whole body shake and convulse with fear. He looked at Sunako, and felt the same pulsating fear when he saw the fangs in her mouth.

"I NEED TO LEAVE!' he yelled as he vigorously yanked himself free. He could feel a tiring sensation flow throughout his body, but shrugged it off and ran as fast as he could out of the mansion gates. Tatsumi walked up behind a stunned Sunako and put a hand on her head in a comforting way.

"don't worry about it, we can't get them all at once." He sighed.

"you don't think he'd tell anyone what he saw do you?" she asked, slightly worried.

"like I said don't worry, even if he does, no one would believe him, they all would just think he was being paranoid of the new people." Tatsumi reassured her.

"Seshiro!" she angrily shouted. "I thought you drugged the tea so they couldn't resist!" Sunako calmed own and stared at him icily.

"but madam, I did, enough to knock out a man three times his size" Seshiro replied indignantly. Sunako sighed.

"I guess it can't be helped, send out someone to check and see if he passed out on the way back to the temple. That's where he said he lived. I was going to pay Mr. muroi a visit in a few days, so I can take care of this myself if need be. She sighed, exhausted. Tatsumi looked around and started thinking to himself.

" _he really did smell odd…"_

**hope you all enjoyed, be sure to review and such**


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sora tells seshin and megumi of the odd happenings at the kirashiki house, and tatsumi does the math.

****

**hope you all enjoy the latest installment!**

"Sora, calm down." Seshin said as he tried to console the terrified teen. Sora simply sat there shaking in place as icy beads of sweat dripped down his forehead.

"b-but you should have seen them. They had fangs Seshin. FANGS! Like vampires or something! And their eyes, they were as black and soulless as the night. I knew they smelled weird." He said as he panted from the exhausting sprint home.

" _smelled weird?_ Sora, I'm sure you were just paranoid. You've been through a lot and you haven't dealt with much of it yet, and maybe it manifested as a fear of strangers or you saw something that reminded you about your parents." Seshin calmly said with a warm smile. "the kirashiki's are a bit odd, but I promise they only have good intentions." Sora shot Seshin a resentful look.

"I know it's hard to believe. Frankly I wouldn't have believed myself if I hadn't seen it, but I promise you I'm telling the truth." Seshin put a comforting hand on Sora's shoulder.

"I never said you weren't, you saw what you saw and I'm sure it was just as real as I am, all I'm saying is that the cause wasn't something to fear. Hallucinations can be a powerful thing, they've certainly motivated people to do rash things before. Just think about it for a few days, and then you should walk over and apologize for being rude." Sora backed away.

"hell no, I'm not going back up there, I can call them or if I see one of them on the streets I'll think about apologizing, but I will. never. EVER. Go to that mansion again." Sora spat indignantly. Seshin simply sighed.

"I'm sorry its shaken you up so much, but just try to work it through in your mind and take some time to relax." Seshin said kindly. Sora looked away, a guilty expression was plastered all over his face. "now what's that look for?" Seshin asked curiously.

"I know it wasn't a major errand or anything, but I didn't mean to let you down" Sora said with a sigh.

"it's alright. You probably just need rest" Seshin led the exhausted Sora back to his room in the back corner of the temple, he resisted playfully, but Seshin won him over and Sora relegated himself to a night's sleep. Or at least he attempted to, until he heard rustling in the bushes outside. He suddenly felt his heart drop. Could it be one of those…things? A cold shiver crept down his spine at the thought.

" _did they follow me here?!"_ he thought as his eyes snapped open. trembling, he walked over to the desk Seshin had placed in his room and slowly opened the drawer. It creaked and groaned as Sora slowly jimmied it open, he took a quick look inside and retrieved a small trinket tucked away in the back corner. It was a small omamori charm and Sora eyed it skeptically. "I figured Seshin might have slipped something like this in here…." He sighed. "I never really believed in Shinto tradition but I guess he thought it might help me out…. they might be vampires…and vampires don't like this stuff right?" he thought aloud as he pocketed the charm…" come to think of it, I get an uneasy feeling myself looking at it…" Sora thought to himself for a moment. " _ever since the day of the fire something hasn't seemed quite right about me…I feel so weird lately…maybe it's just puberty…."_ Sora shrugged his shoulders. He snapped back into focus and steeled himself. Once he took a deep breath he slowly walked towards the door. He paused and listened for a moment. There is was again, the same rustling sound. As he exhaled he cracked the door open and stuck his head outside. He looked around the courtyard of the temple as he tried his hardest to identify the source of the noise but the whole place was quiet. Bracing himself once more, Sora cautiously inched his way out of his room. It took a moment, but he was standing in the center of the courtyard at last. He sharpened his ears and listened for the noise once more.

"rustle"

He instantly locked on to its source when he heard it outside.

" _the woods"_ Sora thought as he looked into the thick brush at the back edge of the temple. He started walking towards the woods that hugged the temple, picking up an old shovel lying next to a building as he made his way. It felt light in his hands, and the metal was cool to the touch. Sora moved some overgrown tree branches and made his way into the thick of the forest, just a few yards away from the temple. He heard the rustling once more, though this time it was louder, and it seemed to be coming towards him, he readied the shovel, holding it in his hands like a club as a gaunt mangy dog charged him, shrieking and barking as if it was caught in a bear trap. Without thinking he swung the shovel as hard as he could, its flat side smashing the dog's ribs. Sora heard a sickening crunch as the animal flew into the side of a tree from the force of the swing. He felt a surge of guilt as his hands recoiled from the blow. He stuck the shovel into the ground as he went over to the dog. He looked it over carefully, it wasn't moving, and Sora couldn't see it breathing. He was reluctant to touch it, worried he might get some kind of disease from the fleas and ticks it was coated in, so he backed away from it.

" _its head is sitting at an odd angle…its neck must have snapped when it hit the tree…I guess this is what was making the noise"_ Sora slapped himself in the face, "damn paranoia is getting to me…sorry dog…" he said regrettably. As he walked back to the temple he picked the shovel up, there wasn't any blood on it much to Sora's relief. he certainly didn't want to clean it after all. He shook himself off one last time and crept back into bed, leaving the charm in his pocket.

**The next morning.**

"ugh…" Sora lamented as he tried to sleep at lunch. Megumi had a hand sitting on his back. She flashed him a concerned look as she began to work out a knot in his shoulder.

"what's wrong Sora?" she asked gently. He looked over at her, and she grimaced when she noticed how bloodshot and baggy his eyes were "ew, you look horrible. Are you getting sick again?" she asked with a haughty smile.

"No. I…I'm fine…" he said groggily.

"you really do look drained." She gently whispered to him. "anyway I was wondering if you might go somewhere with me today?" she pressed her hands together in a pleading motion. Sora looked her over.

"we're sort of a couple now right? I guess I can spare the time" he said casually. " _I still don't know how I feel about her…she certainly is gorgeous, and without me she's basically alone…. but is it right to stay with someone just because you feel sorry for them?"_ he looked on at Megumi''s innocently smiling face. " _then again she's MY only friend too, and I do seem to enjoy my time with her, even if she gives me weird vibes…._ so where do you want to go megumi?" she smiled devilishly.

"the family finally moved into the big mansion. I wanted to meet them."

"NO!" Sora screeched as he recoiled in fear. Megumi looked at him almost in shock, which quickly turned to indignation.

"and why not?" she asked angrily. She gave him a harsh glare before she noticed his hands trembling, she grabbed them in an effort to calm them. "what's wrong Sora? For real?" she asked with genuine concern.

"don't go to that house…avoid it at all costs along with the people inside." Sora gave her a dreadful look.

"what do you mean? You have to give me a reason." She responded irritably.

" _I guess I can trust megumi with the information at least…_ Seshin sent me to meet them yesterday. He wanted me to give them a housewarming present. So I go up to their place and I meet the man who owns the mansion. Seshiro, and his servant Tatsumi. They invite me in for tea and everything is going well. I mean, Tatsumi smelled really REALLY weird, but that's not what I'm terrified of." Megumi gave him a confused look.

"he smelled weird? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked, growing irritated.

"I don't know…like, he didn't smell like a normal person. You know how each person sort of smells differently yet sort of similarly too? Well Tatsumi just smelled differently, like he was a different kind of species or something." Sora said as megumi continued to look at him with sheer bewilderment.

"what? Are you a dog or something? What do you mean everyone smells differently?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

"I don't know. I thought everyone knew about it, I just thought it was something that develops with puberty or something." She eyed him skeptically.

"what do I smell like?" she asked with a devilish smile.

" _hard to tell since you usually bathe in hooker perfume…"_ Sora thought sarcastically. He walked closer to her and took a sniff. "sweet. You aren't wearing that awful flowery perfume today, that's for sure" she glanced back in surprised irritation.

"what's wrong with my perfume?!" she asked nervously.

"there's nothing wrong with the fruity one you wear sometimes, I like it, what is it, tropical berry or something?"

"pinacolatta…." She said irritably.

"yeah, it's the flowery one I hate" he said matter of factly.

"well who asked you." She spat bitterly.

" _you did…._ either way we've gone off topic." He said, calmed from the distracting exchange. He took a deep breath.

"everything was going just fine until his wife and daughter walked into the room, it seemed like Seshiro and I had hit it off great. But when those two came in…" he shook his head as megumi eyed him, lost in the story. "It was as if a cold chill washed over the place."

"you got scared because they gave you weird vibes?" she interrupted.

"let me finish." Sora spat right back. "they walked up, and the woman flirted with me for a moment. Then the little girl patted my head…. but…." Sora shivered in place." Then they grabbed my arms, I wanted to leave but their grips grew tighter, almost like a vice. I insisted on leaving, practically begged at that point. But then I took a look in the wife, chizuru's, mouth…I saw fangs, megumi. They were an inch long and white as ivory! And their eyes' were black and soulless. I swear to Christ, or Buddha or whoever we're supposed to be worshipping in this town, I saw them. They must be vampires or something." He was starting to shake again. So megumi put her arm around his shoulder and kissed his cheek.

"I'm sure you're just scared, a lot has happened to you lately, so maybe it was all too much to bear and turned into a vision or something." Sora's heart dropped.

"Seshin basically said the exact same thing to me, save the affection… _why would I expect anyone to believe such a crazy story? I'm kinda hurt megumi doesn't either but I guess I can't expect anything…maybe I WAS just seeing things…"_ he looked away, pride crushed. He grabbed Megumi''s hands and looked into her eyes. "megumi… I might just be seeing things, no…I'm certain I am. But don't go near that place unless you're with me. Even if there is the smallest chance something could be going on, I don't' want you to risk it okay?" he pleaded. She looked him in the eye and blushed.

"okay. I won't." she agreed. "but I want to see the house up close, so please take me sometime" she pleaded excitedly.

**Yesterday**

Tatsumi paced around the mansion foyer, gnawing his fangs.

"something wasn't quite right about that kid…" he muttered angrily.

"give it a rest, it's not good for you to stress out like this." Chizuru muttered as she sat back on a comfy sofa.

"you don't understand. He smelled so weird. And I KNOW that smell. I can't quite put my finger on it." He looked at her derisively.

"you jinrou, I swear, you might as well be dogs with that sense of smell you have." Tatsumi brushed her off.

"people all sort of have a similar smell, but he didn't smell like a human, no. I'd say he smelled more like me or Yoshie." Tatsumi surmised. "besides you know jinrou can do more than just smell well. All five senses are amplified far beyond a normal human's level, and unlike normal vampires we can walk out in the sunlight. Not to mention the enormous strength." He chastised her.

"yeah, but you'll still waste away if you don't eat blood, true you don't need it as often as a normal vampire, but still. And even you can't walk into a place without being invited in, so don't go thinking you're better than us standard vampires" she gloated with a sly smile on her face. Tatsumi returned a tepid smile of his own.

" _ugh… this plan of Sunako's is sure to fail, but at least the ride will be fun…_ tell Sunako she won't need to send a vampire after him, I'll take a look." Tatsumi cracked his knuckles as he walked out of the mansion. He sniffed the air "he said he lived near the temple, so I guess I'll take the path up to it" Tatsumi walked along under the glow of the moonlight, he clung to the edge of the road, out of the notice of the villagers. Once he reached the long flight of steps towards the temple he was hit with a familiar feeling.

"right…I need to be invited… _I'm sure he's told someone about us, so I probably shouldn't even bother. I'll just loop around the forest and spy on him, if he is a jinrou then he could prove a valuable asset."_ Tatsumi smirked as he walked into the thick forest. He trekked through what was undoubtedly a harder climb than the steps would have been. More than once he could feel himself tripping on a wayward tree root, or swatting a branch away only to have it smack him in the face seconds later. " _backwards ass villagers can't even keep the area trimmed"_ Tatsumi thought bitterly. He crouched behind a bush in the back of the temple. He looked into Sora's room from the small window. "now…how to draw him out." Tatsumi thought to himself as a mangy dog walked up behind him. "oh, looks like he could hear the noise." Tatsumi thought to himself as the dog growled. He reached around and smacked in hard in the face. "quiet mutt." It got angry growling and snarling from the pain. Tatsumi ignored it and jumped into the branch of one of the trees above him. He looked closely and noticed Sora walking outside. The dog was scratching the trunk of the tree so Tatsumi broke off a twig, he watched as Sora entered the woods. " _alright then, let's see how you handle this"_ Tatsumi leapt onto another branch facing in front of the dog and threw the twig at it knocking it right on the head, mistaking the attacker for Sora, the dog charged him. As if by instinct Sora swung the shovel instantly, sending the dog careening several meters into a tree. Even from his high position Tatsumi could see the surprised look on Sora's face.

" _forgot to conceal your strength huh? That proves it. No normal person could strike with such force…I better report back to Sunako. With him, our plan might not be doomed to failure after all."_ Tatsumi laughed.

"no…that's just wishful thinking"

be sure to review lemme know what you think

**also guests, if you leave a review asking a question i will answer it in the review section, so be sure to check back to the stories review section within a few hours to see my response, normal users i will just pm like always**


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> megumi meets the kirashikis on her own

**sorry about the wait, i had just a smidgeon of writers block for this particular chapter. hope you all enjoy**

"does the sun just happen to shine brighter in sotoba for some reason?" Sora lamented as he and megumi walked along the main road in the center of the village. The two were drenched in sweat, and Sora could feel the shoulder stitches on his shirt start to chafe. As he said, the sun was shining brightly, he could feel the heat from the pavement through his shoes, and both of them had to shield their eyes from the intense light.

"almost everything about this village is awful!" megumi whined. The two looked over to a small bench and decided to take a break. Megumi squealed when the wood touched her thigh. "ow! Too hot!" Sora flashed her a concerned look.

"you ok?" he asked casually.

"the stupid bench just burned my leg…" she spat. This time, more carefully she positioned herself on the seat, next to Sora. He put an arm around her shoulders and leaned his head in playfully.

"so, what do you want to do today? Not that there's much to be doing… _like I don't already know_ " Sora thought as a shiver crept through his body. She gave him a playfully bored and melancholy look.

"mhh. I don't know." She started pouting. "we could visit the new family." She batted her eyelashes at him. She was taken aback when she saw the look of deep thought Sora had. As if he didn't even hear what she said. Megumi felt a pang of irritation. "hey! Are you even listening?" she snapped. Sora whipped his head around.

"uh yeah, sorry, I got distracted…" he rubbed his forehead. She looked back over to him and started to flutter her eyelashes again.

"so can we, pleeease?" she asked innocently as she pursed her lips.

"I…just can't. the sad thing is I know what I saw wasn't real, but I can't shake this horrible gut feeling I have." She glared at him for a moment, but then saw the terror in his eyes and her expression softened.

"I wish I knew why it makes you so scared." She sighed. Sora made brief eye contact.

" _yeah I do too…."_ He looked megumi over. Her dress was especially flamboyant today. A strapless dress with a leopard print body and purple cups. The sleeves were detached from the main body of the dress and went up about halfway on her arms, ending in fingerless gloves. The reddish violet color went well with her bright pink pigtails. He started sweating as her chest pressed up against his arm. He gently touched her cheek with the back of his palm. "I can think of something we could do" Sora smiled devilishly. She returned it and jokingly snapped her teeth at his finger.

"yeah, that could be fun" she squirmed a little as Sora moved in closer. She took a quick glance around and noticed a few villagers eying them judgmentally. "hey…Sora?" she asked quietly.

"I see them too" he muttered into her ear. The two separated and exchanged sly smiles. "listen…I should probably get out of here. They'll start the rumor mill again if we stay like this in public." She eyed him and he could see a hint of disappointment cross her face. Sora smiled and walked off.

" _now that he's gone they'll just start saying mean things to me again…but I don't really want to walk home either…"_ she fished a hand drawn card out of her pocket. " _I was going to give this to Natsuno at first…but...I want to give it to Sora now…what should I write on it?"_ she moved her finger over the empty space in the card. "I guess I'll figure it out later." She sighed. She looked around at the scenery for a moment before she noticed the mansion on the hill. "I know he doesn't want me to go, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him." She giggled as she walked in the direction towards the hill, skipping and humming a tune along the way.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she got up close. She craned her neck upwards as the massive stone wall rose above her.

" _wow! What was Sora thinking? This place is incredible!"_ she looked around, peering inside of the spires and towers that dotted the interior of the wall.

Suddenly a cold feeling overtook her. She could feel every hair stand on end, as if a large pair of eyes were staring through her.

"what the?" she thought mid shiver. " _someone's watching me? Yeah…someone's watching me"_ she steeled herself and dawned a prideful smile. "this is good." She whispered quietly. " _they can see I'm not like the others. Maybe if I show them I can walk like a model"_ she giggled and began an awkward gait towards the entrance of the mansion. She fell flat in a matter of two steps. Megumi spat out dirt as she held her leg and groaned in pain. she felt hot blood begin dripping down her arm. "oww. That really hurt." She squealed to herself.

"are you unharmed madam?" a voice with an eloquent accent rang in her ears. Her eyes lit up with wonder as she saw the gate open. revealing a tall man in a flamboyant robe, along with another, muscular man with blue hair pointing up in two cowlicks. Megumi thought they looked almost like cat ears. Her face went flush red as the two fabulous people stood before her. Her mouth hung agape with joy as their imposing figures towered before her.

"I…um I'm okay." She stuttered excitedly. Seshiro took a look at her arm.

"oh my, we'd better patch that arm up before the blood stains your dress. Why not come in for a cup of tea?"

**Several hours later**

"are you sure you're feeling better about it Sora? The last time we talked it seemed to have shaken you up fairly severely." Seshin and Sora walked along side by side around the temple border. Seshin felt concerned for him, especially after the fit he threw when he returned from the mansion the other day.

"yeah…. megumi and I were talking about it today…. I know she wants to meet them really badly and at least for now she's held off because of my fear… but I can tell it's making her unhappy. Frankly, I think it's absurd myself. I need to get a grip on my situation, and I KNOW it can't be good if I'm seeing things." Seshin put a hand on his shoulder. "I just can't shake this uneasy feeling… I mean, it was so bad I killed a dog the other day." Seshin looked at him in shock. Sora, realizing how ominous that sounded gave him a flustered look. "no, no." he yelled excitedly. "not in cold blood. I heard rustling outside my window the other day so I decided to investigate it. The thing charged me out of nowhere so I accidentally cracked it across the face with a shovel. I must have hit it pretty hard too, I'd say the thing flew at least ten feet away and into a tree." Sora couldn't help but feel a glint of satisfaction as he remembered the feat. Seshin sighed.

"so you think you've really gotten over it?" he asked hesitantly.

"yeah" Sora replied in a satisfied tone. "I'll be sure to apologize next time I see one of them." Seshin shot him a warm smile. The two shared a laugh before a concerned voice cut through the moment.

"Seshin, round up a few people to form a search party… The shimizu girl went missing." Sora could feel his heart plummet.

"what the hell?!" Sora spat. "what happened to megumi?!"

"she never came home. Her parents have called everyone they could think of, but no one has seen her." The man said to him.

"Seshin did you get a call too?" Sora looked at him defiantly. His face grew a little pale.

"yes, but I thought nothing of it. From what her mother told me she comes home late often." He said, biting a nail.

"alight well come on, let's go look for her." Sora began to walk off, determined, when Seshin pulled him back.

"Sora, stay here. It might be dangerous. You don't know the area and rabid dogs have been seen around the village, as I'm sure your aware." He said, equally defiantly.

"and as I'm sure YOU'RE aware, I killed one without a scratch. I'm going," he glared at Seshin. "I appreciate all you've done for me, from the bottom of my heart. But." Seshin thought he saw Sora's eyes turn black, a red ring glistened in the center. "I think I love her, so…I have to help." Seshin nodded in understanding.

**Later**

"megumi?" "hey megumi! "where are you megumi?!" voices rang out in the distance as the village looked for her. Sora could see the beams of light cut through the forest, as if they were rods, swaying back and forth in the pitch blackness.

"ya. Sora, how've you been" Sora heard a familiar voice. It gave him an uneasy feeling and he turned around to see a large man with blue hair shaped like cat ears. He jumped back a little and his heart skipped a beat as a bad memory flashed in his mind.

"oh…Tatsumi right? Sorry, you gave me a bit of a scare just now." Tatsumi shot him an overly friendly smile.

"naw, anyone would be if they saw a guy as big as me in the dead of night." He laughed innocently. Sora looked away disdainfully.

"I'm sorry I was so rude the other day. I thought I saw something I didn't and I guess I got paranoid. This village is starting to rub off on me." Tatsumi looked curious.

"don't like it here?"

"not really. Everyone seems kinda gossipy. And it's one of those places that's all traditional, ignorant stupid people afraid of what they don't understand." Megumi flashed through his mind.

"I like it here a lot. You might see it as ignorance, but I see it more like family bonding. They all want to band together to preserve what they know. I'd like to be a part of that. You should grow to enjoy it too." He smiled. Sora gave him a tepid grin as the two walked along. "so this girl, megumi. Did-err-do you know her?" he asked casually.

"you could say we are pretty close." Sora said.

"like the way she tastes or something?" Tatsumi said with a devilish smile.

"what the hell kind of question is that, bro?" he looked at him curiously. Tatsumi grew a big goofy smile.

"sorry, overstepping it a bit I see." The two exchanged awkward glances. "hey, do you need a spare flashlight?"

"hmm? No I'm okay, it's not dark out. We've been having a lot of bright nights lately." Sora yawned.

"Sora. You know, you don't have to keep the act up. No one is around but us, you can drop your guard." Sora looked at him regrettably.

"yeah…. I know, I've been trying to act tough…I'm just so worried about her. What if something happened to megumi." Sora said nervously Tatsumi turned away with a tepid look. He smacked himself in the face.

"no not that. I'm sure you know you and I are the same." He glanced back curiously towards Tatsumi.

"what do you mean?" Sora asked.

"didn't you notice a weird smell on me? Like I don't smell like other humans?" Tatsumi smiled smugly.

"yeah…you do smell pretty weird. But don't let it get you down" Sora said cheerfully "there are plenty of deodorants that work well, just nothing too flowery." Tatsumi fell flat on the back of his head in surprise.

"well don't you think it's weird that you can see so well at night?" he asked, growing impatient.

"the moon is just bright out." Sora said nonchalantly. Tatsumi grumbled and sighed.

"I'm sure you've noticed other weird things lately right? Like how your body feels strange?" Tatsumi said as he took a step closer.

"are…are you coming on to me? I'm flattered and everything, but I don't swing that way" Sora said with a laugh. Tatsumi shot him a dreadful look.

"If you keep changing the subject you're willfully denying what you are!" Tatsumi shouted. Sora sighed too and decided to humor Tatsumi, surely whatever he had to say was interesting at least.

"jeeze Mr. grumpy pants…well now that you mention it, I've been pretty sick lately. Really bad fatigue and anemia. The doctor gave me a blood transfusion the other day, and for about three days afterwards I felt better than I ever had before. But now I just feel pretty normal. That's basically the only unusual thing that's happened to me lately." Sora sat down, scanning the area for any signs of megumi.

" _this kid...he doesn't know?"_ Tatsumi smiled savagely. " _excellent. He'll be easy to manipulate, especially if this girl rises."_ He took a breath "Sora, listen to me. Hey where are you going?!" Tatsumi asked, eyes wide in shock as Sora shot off into the deep woods.

"I knew I recognized that smell. It's the perfume megumi wears, she puts so much on I could smell it a mile away." Sora whispered to himself. He writhed his nose as he followed the scent. Sora ran through the forest as fast as his legs could take him, breaking tree branches in his way until finally he reached a clearing off the foot of the road. He peered around the area until he noticed a patch of pink underneath a bush. His heart sank and he rushed to it, clearing the brush away. There was megumi, sprawled out on the ground. Her clothes were tattered and she was bruised all over. But none of her limbs seemed to be broken. But that wasn't what concerned Sora. Her skin was pale and cold to the touch. Sora feared the worst, so he grabbed her arm and pressed his index finger to her wrist.

"thank god. She's got a pulse." Sora sighed with utter relief. "HEY, I FOUND HER!" Sora shouted at the top of his lungs.

**The next afternoon**

"alright. It seems like anemia. I'll take a little blood and check up on you tomorrow." Doctor Ozaki said as he smiled warmly towards megumi.

"I'm sleepy." She laid in her bed, a neatly made bed with frilly pink sheets, and an veil overhanging the side, also frilly and pink. Doctor Ozaki lit a cigarette and took a puff.

"sleepy?" he asked.

"I'm so sleepy…" the doctor patted her shoulder and walked out of the room.

"so how is she doctor?" Sora and Megumi''s father asked in unison. The two exchanged an awkward glance.

"it looks like anemia. She didn't have any severe injuries, just bruises and bug bites. I'll check on her after the blood test results come back. But she should be okay." Both Sora and her father sighed. Ozaki smiled and walked off.

"listen, I'd like to say thanks again for helping to find her. I know it was at a risk for you, It's pretty likely you would have gotten lost too." Megumi's father sighed.

"yeah, don't worry." Sora twiddled his fingers nervously. "would it be cool if I went in to see her?" her father nodded. And Sora opened the door. He walked over to her and she slowly turned her head towards him. She smiled weakly. Sora looked at her worriedly. She was pale, her eyes were sunken in and her lips were cracked. " _definitely anemia…I looked like that when I was sick too…_ hey megumi. How you feeling?" he asked warmly as he kneeled down to eye level with her.

"I'm so tired…but I guess I feel better now that you're here." Sora gave her a quick hug.

"I think this is a sign. You really need to start eating a healthier diet, if you keep skipping meals like you do you'll only rob your body of nutrients. My mom tried to do it like that too and she'd be weak all the time because of it." Sora held her cold clammy hands tightly. She liked the warm feeling in his palms. Megumi nodded in agreement.

"okay. I'll try" she smiled at him.

"so, you didn't do anything strange did you? Just wanna cover bases and all." He said with concern.

"I met the people at the house. I know you were worried, but I promise that they are really great." Sora felt something gnaw at his mind.

" _it couldn't have been them right? That's absurd…"_ he thought as he quashed an uneasy feeling.

"the lady too…. she was so pretty" megumi said as she drifted to sleep in front of him. Sora bit a nail.

"I'll come to see you first thing in the morning." He said seriously.

" _so pretty."_ Megumi thought one last time as she lost consciousness.

**The next morning.**

"Sora…I'm so sorry…but megumi…" Sora's eyes widened as Seshin explained.

" _dead?"_ he thought in shock as he fell to his knees.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> recap from the pov of natsuno, and again from megumi

**here, this chapter is told from the point of view from natsuno, and then again from megumi, both needed thier own development before the story went further, either way i hope you enjoy this little treat**

" _ugh…. Shimizu is out there again"_ Natsuno's eyes darted up from the textbook he had buried himself in. he adjusted the dimmer on the lamp sitting at the corner of the small wooden desk that was flush with his window. As he turned it down his eyes adjusted to the weak amber glow. He scratched his forehead irritably and peered outside into the black forest. A bush rattled here, and an owl flew to another branch there, but nothing seemed to be out of place. It remained like that for several minutes, so long in fact that Natsuno thought he might have been mistaken. He nearly set his sight back to the book when he noticed movement. A flash of bright pink hair darted closer.

" _she's moving up…maybe I should say something. I should tell her off this time and send her away crying. No…that would only make more trouble. I'll just ignore her and she'll lose interest. Though…. she's been spying on me for months…I really can't stand her at all. She's acting like a kicked puppy."_ Natsuno furrowed his brow and slammed his window shut, making certain that there weren't any gaps in the curtains. He sighed long and hard before shutting the light off completely and throwing himself on his bed. He didn't give megumi a second thought.

He woke up the next morning fairly normally. He took a cautious look outside his window, lamented the fact he was stranded in sotoba for yet another day and began to change into his school uniform. As he passed down into the living room he took a moment to read the paper.

" _ **tragedy strikes a small family in Tokyo. A father driven mad killed his wife, and in a fit of psychosis mutilated the body, draining it of blood. Merely days later he set his apartment ablaze in an attempt to kill himself, and his 17-year old son. Miraculously the boy survived, we've resolved to hide the identities of the involved parties for his sake."**_ Natsuno felt a small chill as he read the headline.

"jeeze. That's certainly something" his father said as he read the same paper. "see Natsuno? That's why I'm glad we moved out to sotoba, nothing crazy like that happens here. In fact, there isn't even any petty theft or larceny." Natsuno grunted irritably at his father as he tried to justify the village.

" _say what you want old man, I still hate it here…._ So how recent is that paper?" Natsuno yawned as he took a closer look.

"the paper is from today. But considering how far out sotoba is I'd say the information is at least a couple months old." Natsuno rubbed his forehead in irritation.

" _can't this place even get modern information?"_ Natsuno thought to himself. He shrugged the thought off and packed his school bag. He got up and began to walk out the door when his father stopped him.

"hey I heard someone else moved here from the city recently, you should try talking with them, you might have a lot in common." Natsuno shrugged it off and continued walking along. After a few minutes of walking outside the heat started to bother him, his mother tended to overstarch his school uniforms, so the collar chafed badly when he sweat. The bright light bothered him too but not nearly as much as the humidity. He saw the sotoba gateway bus stop sign up several meters ahead. He felt a touch of relief when he saw no one sitting there. He walked up quietly and began relaxing. The peaceful silence was short lived when he heard a familiar voice.

"hi yuuki." Megumi called out. She spoke sweetly, but it only served to send a chill up his spine. "staring off towards the city again? Feeling homesick?" she looked over to him with a warm smile.

" _not her again…"_ Natsuno thought irritably. Megumi looked on at him for some kind of response. But he didn't budge an inch.

"still ignoring me? Why talk with someone you hate right?" she continued to stare at him. Yet again, no response. "I can't wait to leave this village…" she whispered despondently. THAT time, Natsuno felt a bit surprised. He turned over to look her in the eye, it was just an irritated stare, but it gave megumi a big grin. Realizing the mistake, he had made, he scowled and turned back around. The two remained in silence for a few more minutes, Natsuno tried to relax, but even Megumi''s presence seemed to give him anxiety. Even still, he gave it his best effort. After a while the two heard footsteps and both Natsuno and megumi turned their heads so see someone they hadn't seen before walking up to the bus stop. He looked about their age, or maybe a year older. He stood about four inches taller than megumi and had a rather slim figure. He didn't have much muscle definition, and his skin was tan. He had medium length dark brown hair and two freckles on his left cheek. But what struck Natsuno the most were his eyes. The color wasn't much to take note of, just a standard light grey iris. But something seemed off about them. There was almost…a hunger…to them, or maybe a deep sadness. Natsuno couldn't quite tell. But he shrugged it off when he saw the friendly, if not awkward, smile on his face.

"hey, is this the bus stop for the high school?" the teenager asked. Natsuno remained quiet, afraid it might drag him into a chat with shimizu. Megumi however looked confused. Almost as if she was torn between staring at Natsuno and staring at the new person in front of them.

" _he must be the guy from the city..."_ Natsuno thought as he turned away.

"there's no sign of it though." Megumi replied cautiously to him. Natsuno tried to put the two out of his mind as he looked away. After another grueling moment the bus finally arrived. All three hopped on quickly. Natsuno took a seat far in the back, while megumi and the other boy sat up front. He glanced up quickly when he heard her squeal in excitement.

" _that poor guy. Who knows what she wants from him? Still, better him than me."_ Natsuno thought as he drifted to sleep.

**A few hours later**

"so Natsuno, are we still good for tomorrow?" Natsuno opened his eyes to see a dopey smile.

"Tohru…yeah, I'll get the paper from you at the café" … he said with a yawn. Natsuno looked over to see megumi fawning over the boy, asking him questions. But something seemed strange. He was merely blowing her off or giving one word answers, in fact. He looked incredibly sick.

"I see shimizu is leaving you alone." Tohru said with a sly smile. Natsuno scoffed at him.

"yeah. I guess she's found a new shiny thing." He sighed. "I kinda feel bad for that guy though." Natsuno watched as he got up and walked out, holding his head the whole time.

"is he okay?" Tohru asked, Natsuno could hear the concern in his voice. In fact, he himself felt a little bad. Especially when he saw megumi staring back at him. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap and Natsuno could tell at a glance that she'd have a volley of new questions as soon as he got back.

"who cares…. Anyway, I have to go to the bathroom." Natsuno said grumpily.

"going to check on him?" Tohru said with a laugh. Natsuno returned an icy, dreadful stare. He walked up without another word and headed for the restroom. When he walked in the first thing he noticed was the boy, splashing water on his face, looking basically miserable. Natsuno put an arm on his shoulder. The young man jumped up in surprise.

"hey, you're the one from the bus stop this morning right?" Natsuno said with a yawn.

"yeah, my name is Sora. You?" Natsuno didn't look him in the eye.

"yuuki. Or koide. Either is fine." He said as he washed his hands.

"parents not married or something?" Natsuno could feel a surge of anger boil and gave him an icy stare. Sora looked awkward and apologetic. "sorry if I hit a nerve!" he said excitedly. "in Tokyo, a lot of kids were like that. Unmarried parents and all." Natsuno lightened his gaze when he saw the remorse in Sora's eyes.

"not going to give me a hard time about it like the villagers do?" he asked tepidly, while still trying to maintain a façade of irritation.

"why would I? either way, can I just call you by your first name? two names would be confusing." Sora asked innocently. Natsuno grunted at him and Sora looked back over, slightly disappointed. Natsuno heard him cringe and saw Sora rubbing his head.

"something wrong?" he asked, still irritated.

"I've just been feeling sick lately…anemia or low blood sugar or something." He groaned. Natsuno assumed the headache he had must have been pretty bad. "don't worry about me, I'll be fine." He said with false confidence. "anyway, what did you want?"

"I'd avoid shimizu if I were you. She's…odd." Natsuno said.

"she's a little annoying and a tad shallow…but honestly I think she's just really lonely." Sora said forlornly as he stared into the mirror.

" _lonely huh?_ Whatever." Natsuno said as he walked off.

**The next day**

" _great, she followed me here. And she even dragged Sora along…_ so Tohru did you bring the books?" he asked as the blonde teenager sitting across from him dawned a guilty, yet goofy smile.

"yeah about that…" he said carefully. Natsuno gave him an icy stare.

"why would I expect you to remember." Natsuno snarled.

"hey Sora!" Tohru yelled over to the table behind them Natsuno, knowing what Tohru was up to, secluded himself in the menu, letting the two fret away and chat. He turned his gaze when he heard a particularly angry comment from megumi.

" _that's weird…she's not looking at me at all…Sora…thanks for getting her off my back."_ Sora and megumi left a short time afterwards and Tohru smiled at him.

"those two look pretty chummy don't they?" he said innocently. Natsuno almost cracked an excited smile. Tohru's eyes grew wide in shock. "oh wow! You almost smiled! This is some serious progress!" he said in a flurry of excitement.

"whatever." Natsuno said with faux anger. Tohru fell flat with disappointment.

**That night.**

Natsuno was thorough in surveying his room. He made sure there wasn't a single thing out of place. He dimmed his light and walked towards the window. He stared out for what seemed like hours, and there wasn't a single movement to speak of.

" _is she really over me?"_ for only the briefest of moments, a gleeful smile curled on his face.

**A few days ago**

Megumi huddled outside of an amber lit window. She was careful not to let her dress tear on the bushes outside. The smell of wet earth and petrichor hit her, she grimaced.

" _ugh…I can't wait to get out of this place. Nature really doesn't suit me. It's so uncool."_ Her thought was cut short as the window she was staring into opened. She saw Natsuno walk out and stare off into the forest. Her chest felt fluttery. " _oh yuuki! You aren't like these other people. You never make fun of me. And you're from the city! So cool! I just wish you would talk to me."_ She said as she felt a stab of disappointment. She looked dead into his eyes and snuck closer. Her whole body felt hot and bubbly. She could hardly resist falling into an excited giggle. Natsuno looked around the forest once more and slammed the window shut. "aww…" she said as she longed for the window to open again. She gave it a few more minutes but eventually gave up and started walking home.

Megumi slipped into the house without anyone noticing and crawled up to her room. She flicked the light on and organized her collection of stuffed animals once more. She took a look at a framed picture of a skyscraper she had tucked on a shelf. "someday" she whispered with conviction. Then she took a look at the picture of Natsuno she had. "and maybe with him." She smiled dreamily as she tossed herself onto her bed, ruffling the frilly pink blanket and drowning herself in fantasy.

**The next morning**

Megumi snuck down to the floor of her house, trying her hardest to avoid being seen by her parents.

" _ **now we revisit the tragedy that happened in Tokyo two months ago. A man lost himself to psychosis, killing his wife and mutilating the corpse, draining it of blood completely. In a sick twist, he hid the body for several days until he set his apartment on fire in an attempt to kill himself and his 17-year-old son, as well as to hide the evidence. Miraculously the boy survived, and for his sake we have decided to hide the identity of those involved."**_ Megumi looked intently at the news broadcast.

" _wow. Creepy. Nothing interesting like that could ever happen here, even if it is kinda tragic, at least it's something."_ She thought to herself nonchalantly and slipped out the door. She walked uncomfortably in the intense heat, she had to adjust her bra several times because the weight of the sweat was starting to pull it down. "ugh…the schools are so puritan…I wish I could wear all my cool clothes there." She whispered disappointedly as she stared at her rather bland school uniform. " _surely yuuki would notice me if I was wearing something really sexy."_ She started giggling that infatuated cackle again.

"hey megumi! What's up?" Megumi''s heart dropped when she heard the familiar shrill voice of kaori tanaka.

" _ugh…her…why can't she get the picture that I don't want anything to do with her?"_ megumi groaned irritably. "what do you want?"

"did you hear about yamairi? They found three dead bodies! Isn't it crazy?" kaori said excitedly.

"the **father underwent a serious psychosis and killed his wife, mutilating the corpse."** the words of the news anchor echoed in her mind.

" _even our tragedies are boring by comparison to the city"_ she thought, longing of the place far from sotoba _. "_ so what. This village is full of nothing but old people all ready to die." She spat bitterly at kaori.

"yeah but…" kaori said tepidly.

"hey guys did you see the paper? They found three dead bodies! It even mentions sotoba by name!" another shrill voice, this time kaori's little brother akira. Megumi had had enough. She threw her hands in the air, scratching her head in disbelief of how rustic they were.

"no more!" she screeched as she ran off. "that's it, that's it! What is wrong with these people?" she spat as she ran towards the bus stop. Suddenly a flash of purple hair caught her eye. She could feel her heart flutter and skip a beat. "yuuki?" she thought as she walked up to the bus stop. " _today is the day. The day he finally notices me!"_ she fumbled around in her bag, looking for a card she'd hand drawn. She hadn't written anything on it, but thought the gift might be enough to get him to say something anyway. She quickly quashed that thought and in a fit of nervous panic, stashed the card back away. " _alright you can do this…_ good morning yuuki! Staring off towards the city again? Feeling homesick?" she said as sweetly as she could. There was no response, and she could already feel a sinking bitter feeling in her gut. Natsuno stood, coldly denying her attempt to socialize. She looked around nervously. "so no sign of the bus yet?" yet again, no response from Natsuno. Megumi, almost crushed finally tried one last thing. "still ignoring me? Why talk with someone you hate right?" she thought maybe he might feel a pang of guilt and at least acknowledge her presence. But again, nothing. She felt like she might burst into tears. "I can't wait to leave this village…" she accidentally said aloud. THAT got his attention. Natsuno looked megumi right in the eye for a moment. In an instant her sadness washed away, filled with a hopeful excitement. " _oh my god! He actually looked at me!"_ she smiled gleefully and Natsuno turned his head in irritation. She relaxed once more and started to feel disappointed again. She was tempted to try talking more, but Natsuno was starting to look angry. The last thing she wanted was for him to yell at her. She turned away and began to rummage through her bag to pass the time.

"hey, is this the bus stop for the highschool?" megumi lit up when she heard a voice she hadn't before. She turned to see a man who looked to be a little older than she was, and about a head taller too. He had medium length, thick brown hair. She loved the color. He had a pretty normal expression on his face, but what struck her were his eyes. They seemed to pierce through her. Though his seemingly oblivious expression would contradict that feeling. She felt a curious feeling when she stared at him, not unlike the feeling she got when she looked at Natsuno.

" _is he the guy who moved in to the temple?"_ she suppressed an excited smile, steeling her nerves, she decided to respond before Natsuno could, not that he had any interest. "yeah, no sign of it though." She said reservedly.

'huh" he replied nonchalantly, seeming not to pay any more notice to her. She watched as he leaned against the metal sign and drifted off to sleep. For some reason, she couldn't stop staring. After a few curious moments the bus finally arrived. Natsuno hopped on quickly, hoping to avoid the other two. And Sora roused from his sleep, rubbed his head and stepped on. He took a seat right by the front and megumi, still curious, sat in the seat across from him.

" _what should I say..._ are you the new boy from the temple?" she asked tepidly. He lazily stared back at her.

"yeah why?" he said as he looked her in the eye.

" _those eyes."_ She thought excitedly. She steadied her nerves once more, and put on a haughty façade. "where are you from?" she asked with a sly smile. " _this should be all I need to know if I should talk with him more."_

Looking away, he responded simply with "Tokyo". That one simple word and Megumi''s entire façade crumbled. She leapt into his seat in a flurry of excitement.

"oh please, you just have to tell me what the big city is like! YOU JUST HAVE TO!" she squealed. She could feel butterflies in her stomach and could do nothing to suppress the gigantic grin on her face. He looked a tad awkward however, megumi had accidentally started digging her nails into his shoulders as she clutched him.

"w-what do you want to know?" he asked as he felt a sharp pain in his shoulders.

"everything!" she nearly screamed.

"like specifically…and you're hurting me." He said as he moved her hands. Megumi calmed down a bit and sat on her knees in the middle of the seat, still pinning him to the window.

"okay…. I wanna know about nightclubs!" she said with stars in her eyes. Sora smiled devilishly.

"I've snuck in a few times with friends. It's not too hard, just bribe the right bouncer. Dancing is fun, especially with pretty girls, and of course they have expensive drinks and the latest music" megumi was entrenched in every word. It was almost as if she could see a glow of light around him. She nodded, nearly braindead from overexcitement. But then she noticed a really sad look on his face. Her trance was broken, and almost on instinct she asked.

"hey, what's wrong?" she asked as he looked up, forlorn.

"nothing, just a fond memory…what's your name anyway?" megumi smiled triumphantly.

"shimizu megumi! You?" he smiled warmly at her, and she could feel butterflies in her stomach again.

"muroi Sora." He looked curious for a moment. "shimizu…. your family owns the greenhouse right?" megumi felt a bitter sickly feeling creep up.

"bleghh don't remind me. It's SO lame. So anyway. Sora, why would you leave such a glamorous big city life to come to a cesspool like sotoba?" she asked with a tone that half resented sotoba, and half was curious even more about this new Sora person.

"it's not that I wanted to leave, I liked it in the city. It just wasn't my choice."

"do your parents work here or something?" she asked softly. He looked away bitterly.

"I don't want to go into it." She could feel a ping of sadness. For some reason, she felt like she might have hurt his feelings and it didn't make her happy at all.

"so were there lots of shops? Like clothing boutiques?" Sora looked at her with a lighter expression, thankful she changed the subject.

"yeah, tons. But since I'm a guy, I never really bothered to look through them. I kinda just got what was right there in front." He said without a second glance.

"I've always wanted to see laforet myself, they keep changing the exterior." He tossed her a sympathizing glance.

"what I miss most are all the restaurants and places to get food. There are only two in the whole village, and one is a bar, so for me, vertically only one. Where I lived there were twelve on my block alone." She giggled as he looked like he was about to drool.

"this whole village sucks." She said irritably. For some reason megumi couldn't understand she seemed to gravitate towards Sora. Natsuno had been nearly pushed from her mind and she never even gave him a deep thought. She glanced back once or twice, but would always get distracted when Sora actually **answered** one of her questions, or engaged her point in a conversation. Still something bothered her about him, he looked kind of sickly, like he was pulling out of a migraine or a hangover or something. She spent the next few days trading fascination with curiosity, wondering why he was starting to look haggard. She saw him after school ended, he twitched when she said his name, but turned around with a smile. It made megumi feel good that someone actually smiled because of her.

"where'd you go Sora? I didn't see you after lunch?" she asked, twiddling her finger.

"I had to go to the bathroom, I've been feeling sick and I didn't know that there was no cafeteria in the school, so I didn't bring any food or drink. I ended up getting water from the sink." She felt immediate concern.

"what's wrong?" she asked softly.

"I'm about to find out. I'm heading to the clinic." He said with determination. She opted to follow him, much to his chagrin. And after a while they noticed steps behind them. Megumi looked back when and saw kaori once again. She called her name and megumi instinctively walked closer to Sora.

"walk faster" she whispered in his ear. Sora brushed her off and started talking with kaori. Megumi could feel seething jealousy as the two chatted about nothing in particular. She finally ended up dragging him away. It only took a few minutes for them to walk to the clinic. On the way, the villagers started to make brutal remarks about megumi, like they often did. Everything from calling her a whore to saying she was taking advantage of the new kid and anything else nasty they could come up with. Sora put his arm around her shoulder and sped up. She felt so warm in his embrace.

Once they walked in Sora exchanged a few words with the head nurse Yasuyo, a grizzly chiseled bear like woman with a sweet demeanor. The doctor came out shortly and they walked behind a counter. Megumi looked on, slightly surprised when she saw the doctor giving him a blood transfusion. She giggled a bit when she saw him recoil in horror when Ozaki raised the syringe.

" _he's like a kid."_ She thought innocently as she grinned. He looked back as the fresh blood flowed into his veins and smiled back at her, reassuringly. She nodded politely. Her grin was cut short when she noticed doctor Ozaki's mother walk in front of her. Though most of the villagers gave megumi a hard time, this woman seemed to utterly despise the ground she walked on. On more than one occasion megumi would leave the clinic crying because of the vicious things the old bag said to her. She braced herself for what was to come.

"ugh. You again? Did you catch something from one of the students you've been seeing? I'll have you know this is a reputable clinic and we refuse to treat whore diseases."

"what the hell is your problem lady?!" megumi looked on in surprise to see Sora standing behind the woman. She could have sworn in that moment his eyes turned black and red. But shrugged the thought off, she was in awe of him in that moment, and her face was red, partially from embarrassment, and partially because of some other, deeper feeling.

"how dare you talk to me like that! I am your elder and you will treat me with respect. Brat." Megumi saw Sora clench a fist. She sat back in her seat a bit, worried because of the unstable atmosphere.

"kiss. My. Ass." Sora said through gritted teeth. No line could have filled megumi with satisfaction more, and she could feel a wave of ecstasy when Sora said something she'd _always_ wanted to. She recoiled when the old woman delivered a powerful smack to Sora's face. She felt a wave of anger herself, and was just about to get up herself, and defend him. But she took a look in his eyes. There was a fierce rage. Something so intense she'd never known anything like it. One look was all it took to know she'd just be in his way. He cracked his knuckles. Megumi would never forget the splintering sound they made, almost as if it was the bone itself crunching beneath his rage. He raised a fist, and from the look in his eye, megumi could tell he was seriously contemplating hitting the woman hard enough to kill her. He was about to swing; she could see the muscles in his arm tense up. But suddenly the doctor grabbed his arm. In a surprising twist, the doctor wasn't furious at Sora, but rather his own mother. Sora took a moment to calm down, and megumi did everything she could to hide her blushing face.

Suddenly reality crashed back to her. She looked around wearily.

" _where am I?"_ she said as she looked around the dense wooded area. The night was pitch black and she could hear dogs howling. she couldn't move, she was too weak. " _someone…please help me…"_ she thought as she slowly drifted out of consciousness. " _Sora will find me….my knight in shining armor…"_ she thought deliriously as she passed out once more.

**please be sure to review and eerything. i hope it made the story a bit deeper for you**


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sora goes to megumis funeral

**sorry its late, but on the bright side its long and a lot of stuff happens. i hope that makes up for the wait**

"what do you mean megumi died?" Sora almost whispered in disbelief. Seshin himself seemed a bit hesitant to say anything more, but took a deep breath.

"the doctor said there was some kind of complication and she had a heart attack during the night. It was a complete surprise to him…. he wanted to perform an autopsy but her parents refused…" every word seemed to rattle Sora. He could feel his hands shake and thought he might vomit a lung.

"This…. this can't be real…" Sora muttered, utterly dumbfounded. Seshin looked at him, obviously concerned.

"I'm so sorry…. megumi was about to turn sixteen right? it's far too young to die." Sora grew angry as Seshin spoke. He shot up and grabbed his robes, staring at him with a wild, enraged look.

"too young to die? That's all you have to say about it?" he asked in bewildered irritable surprise. "my only friend, one of the few people I'm close too suddenly just up and dies for no fucking reason and all you have to say is "too young to die"?" Seshin struggled a bit. he wasn't angry at Sora for lashing out at him. In fact, he felt nothing but pity.

"p-please. You have to control yourself. She wouldn't want you making a scene and throwing a fit. I know how sudden this is, and trust me you aren't the only one hurting." Sora looked away and clenched a fist.

"hurting? I'm not hurting. I feel fan-fucking-tastic! Like always! Its everyone else around me that're hurting. First my family, and now my girlfriend. You'd better take a few steps back or you'll end up dead too!" he screamed through gritted teeth. "it's not fair! What did I ever do to deserve any of this?!" he slammed his fist into a wooden beam standing next to him. It shattered from the impact and Seshin noticed the scent of pine sap as the pieces flew by him. The impressive display of force distracted him from the somber moment for an instant. He took a look at Sora's hand as he pulled it away and noticed a few of the fingers jutting out in strange positions. Sora flailed it about for a moment as he blew on it.

"Sora! Your hand! It looks like you broke it." Seshin gasped as he grabbed it for a closer look. He examined it closely, but it was flawless. Not a scratch or bruise to be found. Sora glared at him.

"I'm fine." He said as he cracked the joints in his palm.

"listen…the funeral is tomorrow." Seshin said somberly.

"I promised her id see her in the morning…." He said hopelessly. "aghhh" Sora recoiled and grabbed his head as an immense pain overwhelmed him.

" _I know you've gone through a lot. But try to stay strong. You'll stay here at the adoption center until you turn of age, or if a relative takes you in."_ Sora twitched and moaned on the ground for a moment, unable to move because of the intense pain. Seshin rushed over to him and turned him on his back.

"Sora! What's wrong?!" Seshin shouted concernedly.

"I…. I don't know…. I felt a pounding head rush… _and that memory…_ Ozaki said I might get headaches now and then if I'm prone to anemia. He told me when I went to check up after the blood transfusion." Seshin looked him over closely.

"maybe stress caused it… you should be more careful, you nearly broke your hand and you hurt your head within the same moment. I can't possibly imagine how horrible you feel right now, but please don't let it get the best of you. You'll only hurt yourself more… _quite literally apparently..._ ´Seshin thought as he tugged his robe. Sora stood up without another word and started walking away. "where are you off too?"

"I'm going to my room…" He said under his breath. Sora was utterly exhausted, in the blink of an eye it was as if an immense weight was dropped on him and the pain took too much energy to bear. He flung himself on the bed in the corner and tried to think.

" _megumi…this has to be some kind of sick joke…. I just saw you, how could this have happened in a day?!"_ Sora was ready to burst into tears and were it not for the roaring headache he might have. In the end he finally fell asleep.

"" _I know you've gone through a lot. But try to stay strong. You'll stay here at the adoption center until you turn of age, or if a relative takes you in." Sora clicked his tongue as he looked on bitterly._

" _none of them will…." He whispered bitterly as the woman walking him down the hallway smiled warmly. She brought him to a room._

" _your room is here." She pointed to a small bed in the corner as she opened the door. Sora walked in and set his bag down on the bed._

" _he's my new roommate?" Sora turned to see a teenager about his age sitting across on the other bed._

" _yes kenji. This is Sora he'll be staying here in this room with you until his next of kin takes him in or he gets adopted." The woman gave Sora a curt nod as she walked out of the room. The boy across from Sora had a cautious look on his face._

" _so any next of kin?" the boy asked with a sly smile. Sora simply sat on the bed and tucked his head between his knees. The air of sadness clung to him like a thick sheet. He barely nodded a "no" to the boy before returning to sulking. He looked at Sora with slight concern._

" _well, you're pretty screwed then. No one wants to adopt us when we reach this age. Not unless you're some superstar idol or young genius." He looked over to Sora, who barely seemed to acknowledge him as he lamented in his misery. "h-hey, don't get down, it's not so bad here." He said with an awkward smile. Sora briefly nodded in acknowledgement. Without another word he curled on his side and laid facing the wall. The next few weeks were like that for Sora. He wouldn't speak more than a few words and just sulked in a corner or laid around and slept. He didn't even attempt his studies. The only thing he would do was eat…and a lot. He'd find himself eating five to six times a day with seconds and even thirds on almost every meal. It wasn't the kind of depressive eating that obese people tended to indulge in. food as a comfort. But rather, Sora felt a primal hunger, something ingrained in him on an instinctual level deep in the most primitive parts of his brain. However, even though he was eating as much as three people he never seemed to get any less hungry. In fact, the feeling seemed to grow more intense after every meal. It was just a little nagging at first. Something kind of annoying, like an insect buzzing far off in the distance. But as the first month went by it became utterly unbearable. It was like every fiber of his being was screaming out for sustenance. What's more, he could feel himself growing weak. He'd find himself winded from walking short distances, or his arms would be on fire from lifting even light objects. At one point he'd tried to lift a gallon jug of water to make room near his bedside, but he couldn't get it more than an inch from the ground with two arms. Everyone in the orphanage was too busy to notice Sora slowing down, so the problem continued until it reached a boiling point five weeks after he arrived._

" _kenji…. I'm starving…" Sora said as he eyed his roommate like a gaunt coyote. Kenji looked over to him and laughed halfheartedly._

" _whoa! You…talked." Those were in fact the first words he spoke to kenji. "anyway…how in the hell could you be hungry? You eat more than anyone else here." Sora shrugged and fell silent for a moment. But suddenly as he was about to say something else, he sputtered and fell to the ground, clutching himself as he endured a fierce pain. "Sora hey! Are you alright?'' kenji said as he rushed to the suffering teenager. Before kenji could even react Sora grabbed his wrist as hard as he could._

" _kenji…I'm really starving." He said with a malicious half smile. Kenji tried to pry his hand away, but Sora's grip was like a vice, a far cry from the weakness he'd seen from him earlier._

" _Sora, just calm down. I can go get you some food. You just have to let me go." He panted nervously. Kenji turned to see Sora's eyes. The sclera was black as the night and there was a red ring where the outline of the iris would have been. He recoiled in sheer terror, trying frantically to claw Sora's hand away. "what the hell is with your eyes?!"_

" _just relax…" Sora said coyly as he licked his lips._

Sora screeched n terror as he woke.

"what the hell was that? That was the worst nightmare I've ever had... _I could feel that hunger…it's almost like when I went to doctor Ozaki to get the blood…. but this was way more intense…_ I don't remember much from the period when my parents died, to when I came to sotoba…but I know I never did anything like that…" he said with a shudder. Sora noticed a sticky feeling all over his clothing, a sleeveless shirt and cargo shorts. They were utterly drenched in sweat. Suddenly he remembered megumi and a gut wrenching depression fell over him. "megumi…. what could have happened." He whispered as he rubbed his eyes. Sora quickly put on his fine set of clothes and walked into the temple courtyard. Seshin and a few assistants were preparing a few objects for the funeral. Sora avoided eye contact with anyone as he slowly walked up to Seshin. The two exchanged a brief glance and Seshin smiled at him sympathetically.

"Sora. How is your head feeling?" he asked hesitantly.

"it's not bad. Not right now at least…" Sora said as he scratched the side of his head. The two exchanged knowing looks and Seshin motioned towards the temple door.

"we'd better get going." He said quietly. Sora nodded and picked up one of the boxes. It was a silent car ride to the shimizu house. On rare occasion Sora might exchange a glance with Seshin through the mirror. But both knew that the other wasn't really in a mood to talk.

Sora stepped out of the car, stretching his legs and taking in the scenery. The shimizu's had a small house, nicely decorated with black banners hanging from the fence. There were a few condolences from classmates hanging from them. Sora could feel a boulder in his stomach as he walked along and into their front yard. He saw Megumi''s parents, and for a brief moment was tempted to speak to them. He took one look at her father's face and decided against it. The man was in more anguish than even Sora was. Just seeing it gouged a rift of deep sadness in Sora's psyche. Then he noticed doctor Ozaki standing on the opposite corner. The doctor looked more bewildered than mournful, so Sora decided to step in and speak.

"hey doc…" he said with the slightest hint of bitterness. Doctor Ozaki looked at him and put a hand in his lab coat pocket.

"Sora…how are you feeling? Seshin said you'd been having headaches." He said casually trying to steer the subject away from the funeral.

"yeah…nightmares too...vivid ones. Almost like memories…" he said somberly. The doctor paused for a moment.

"must be stress from what's happened." Sora shot him a bitter look and clicked his tongue. Ozaki took a step back apprehensively. "Sora…. I'm sorry. I know you two were close. I just wish I knew what was going on…. what could I have overlooked?" he thought seriously. Analyzing the situation like a cold machine. Sora clenched a fist and shot him an even angrier look.

"whatever it was killed her…." He grunted angrily. "I'd like to slap whatever idiot professor gave you your degree." He spat. The doctor nodded knowingly, and put a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"yeah, I feel the same way. In my career mistakes are costly. I don't know what lecture I nodded of in, or what symptom I took for granted. But the knowledge would have helped and…megumi paid the price for my shortcoming" he said, this time with real emotion.

"is that supposed to make me feel better or something?" Sora could feel himself being dragged under by an unrelenting sadness and guilt. "what were her symptoms exactly? Maybe we can brainstorm…" he said with bitter sarcasm.

"well, low blood pressure, fatigue, loss of appetite, thirst…. the fatigue was the worst of it though. She must have been in bed the entire time." Sora looked away. He bit his lip for a moment, then remembered something.

" _I'm sleepy…. really sleepy."_ The thoughts echoed in Sora's mind. His eyes grew wide.

"something the matter?" doctor Ozaki said with a slight smile.

"doc, you know what happened to me before I came to sotoba right?"

"Yeah. I'm fully aware." He said as he lit a cigarette.

"well what I hadn't told anyone was that I'd been terribly sick for a couple days before the fire…it just seemed so irrelevant at the time…but now…" Ozaki looked more closely at him, Sora could see the glint of curiosity in his eye.

"I haven't told anyone besides Seshin this yet, and I don't know if he might have hinted at it…but there have been more deaths than usual in the village lately. It's probably just the heat. But at least a few of them seemed to be sick like megumi. Sora…. I want you to tell me exactly what your symptoms were… _I hate to think it…but Sora might just have carried a virus here…sotoba is so isolated that we'd be wiped out from any new disease…"_ the doctor held Sora's shoulders and looked into his eyes.

"well…I was crazy sleepy…headaches…weakness, I could barely move in fact...and I don't remember eating the entire time." The doctor looked at him with a mix of horror and revelation.

"just like megumi…. just like the other villagers too…" Sora nodded vigorously.

"yeah, that's why I brought it up…I didn't carry some kind of virus here did I?" he asked in shock as his eyes started to water. Ozaki pulled his shirt collar and took a long drag on his cigarette.

"no…I don't know of any virus with those kinds of symptoms… _perceptive kid…_ do me a favor though, come in to the clinic later. I want to draw some blood and run some tests…if by some misfortune you did bring a new disease here, I could use your blood to make a vaccine...I truly am sorry about megumi. But if this is what I think it is, then no one else will have to suffer through it… _it does beg the question…how did Sora survive when it seemed to kill everyone else…then again he does seem to be prone to anemia and mineral deficiency…maybe he's a carrier. Our own typhoid Mary. I'll have to look into it further…._ one last thing Sora…we never had this conversation." The two exchanged serious nods and walked in opposite directions.

" _this might be my fault…."_ Sora thought as he took a deep breath. It was too much to bare. Sora could barely fight the urge to sob as he paced around the viewing area. He gulped and took a step towards the casket. Megumi laid in the wooden box, her arms were neatly folded and a peaceful expression rested upon her face. He walked up next to her and whispered. "I came to see you…just like I promised" a tear dripped down his face, he tried to suppress the urge to cry so hard that he could feel a lump in his throat. He turned away and walked inside of the house. The air was running cold and it was a very small relief compared to everything else. Against his better judgement he walked up to her room. He opened the door and walked in.

"everything but the stuffed animals are pink…if I didn't know her I'd say she was pretty innocent…and _that damned flowery perfume…this one smells different…maybe she bought a new bottle?"_ he cleared his nose and turned to walk out, as he did he bumped hard into someone who was walking in. "agh…damn…watch were you're going…" he said crossly to a short brown haired girl with pigtails.

"oh sorry… id heard someone go up here and wanted to make sure they didn't disturb any of her things. I already looked a few minutes ago." Sora nodded in acknowledgement.

"you're her friend…kaori right? The girl with the dog who hates me for some odd reason. It's me Sora, remember?" He looked at her coyly as her eyes lit up.

"you meant a whole lot to her, you know." Sora looked at her in surprise.

"I did?" he could feel the lump start to crawl back in his throat.

"mhh. She wrote this card explaining everything." Kaori presented a small hand drawn card to Sora. He took it and placed it in his suit pocket.

"let's go outside away from all the commotion. I'll look at it there." The two exited the house and walked around the stone fence to an alley near the back of her home. Sora's ears pricked for a moment. " _someone following me? No…maybe just the wind"_ he thought as he heard what he assumed to be footsteps trying to match his own. Kaori looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"why did it have to be megumi…" kaori whispered as Sora pulled out the card. There were two penguins drawn on it along with what looked like a glacier platform and a few ice cubes in the background.

" _Sora…sorry I didn't give this to you sooner. Nerves I guess. I want to say so many things here but I'm not sure where I should start. I've always hated sotoba. The people were so horrible to me every single day for as long as I can remember, no one understood how I felt. When Natsuno moved in I thought for sure he would relate…but he ended up ignoring me to any length he could...I still wanted to pursue him, getting ignored was way better than getting made fun of. In a weird ironic way, he treated me better than anyone else. Then you moved here a few weeks ago. I figured you'd be sort of like Natsuno, someone who would just brush me along with the village aside until they could finally escape…but I'm so glad you talked to me. That day when we talked on the bus was the first time I'd ever felt like I was with someone of my kind. You made me finally feel like I belonged somewhere. That I wasn't just one person wandering alone in the world. That there were people who truly "get" me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being there for me. Even if our time was just normal to you. It meant the world to me. I don't know how you feel about me, but I think I really love you."_ Sora was sobbing by the time he finished the card. Kaori too was crying softly.

" _I love you too megumi…"_ he thought in between sobs. "aghhh" Sora wailed in pain and he fell to the ground. He clutched his head and screamed in anguish.

"what's wrong Sora?!' kaori rushed to his side and took a look at his face.

" _just relax" Sora said coyly as he licked his lips. Kenji tried even harder to break from his grasp, but it was an exercise in futility. Sora took his other hand and clamped it over kenji's mouth. The teen let out a few muffled screams, but they fell upon deaf ears. Kenji let out one final scream as he saw two fangs protrude from behind Sora's canine teeth. The last thing he remembered was a sharp pain in his neck. He blacked out after that. Sora could feel his warm blood flowing into his mouth, it was sweet. Not in the sense that candy was sweet, but more like a prized cut of meat. And rather oily as well. He gulped unconsciously, and fed until he felt like his stomach was about to burst. Again, running on instinct. He spoke softly to kenji._

" _let's just keep this between us, 'kay?" after a moment Sora began to think clearly again. He recoiled in horror as he saw the blood on his hands and kenji lying slumped unconscious on the floor. He looked around frantically and stood up in a hurry to run to the bathroom, he figured kenji might have needed water. As soon as he looked in the mirror he saw himself. His face was covered in blood, his eyes were sinister and red, and he saw the fangs in his mouth. He screeched in horror as he slammed a fist into the mirror, shattering it and cracking the wall behind it. He slowly stepped over to the other mirror, afraid of what he was going to see. He took another look at himself. Again, he saw the sinister color his eyes had become, and the fangs. He rasped his tongue over them. They were quite real, and quite sharp._

" _what the hell?!" he screeched in terror. In a moment of morbid curiosity, he opened his mouth and plunged his fangs into his arm, he felt a sort of disorienting sensation as his own blood hit his tongue, and it was the most bitter taste Sora had ever had the displeasure of experiencing. He looked into his eyes in the mirror, still very dizzy from whatever his blood had done to him and whispered to himself in a drunken stupor. "I just want to forget…. I want to forget my pain. I want to forget tonight…my grief…I want to forget it all…" Sora passed out shortly thereafter._

Sora snapped back to reality. He could taste something sweet in his mouth. In a knee jerk reaction, he pulled away and saw kaori slump to the ground. She looked dazed and had two small puncture wounds on her left shoulder. Sora looked at his blood stained hands in horror once more and began to shake in utter terror.

"w-what am I?"

**for the record, yes sora did accidentaly hypnotize himself. the only reason he didn't forget the actual events surrounding the fire was because he only said to forget the pain and grief, the only actual event he forced himself to forget was that night. i feel like that bit might have been a tad confusing, so i just wanted to clear up a few questions you guys might have.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sora realises he isnt quite human, and tatsumi does as well

**sorry for the long delay everyone, ive been prepairing for college so writing has gone slowly, ill be uploading a bit more sporadically in the future as i attend classes, but the wait shouldn't be as long as it was this time. anyway i hope you enjoy the chapter**

"w-what am I?" Sora said as he once again looked at his blood covered hands in horror. "oh my god! Kaori!" Sora said as he grabbed her shoulders, shaking her back and forth. "she…. she's still alive…" he said with a sigh of relief as he checked her pulse…" those…. were memories…." Sora said as he rasped his tongue over the fangs that had sprouted behind his canine teeth. As if a switch had turned on in his mind, all the grief and sadness hit him all at once. A crippling pain swelled in his stomach and he vomited off to the left side of kaori, now slumped over unconscious. The bile burned and tore at his throat as it came up "oh god…." He stammered as he wiped away strings of drool. Purging did little to ease the pain he was feeling and he too slumped over next to kaori as tears streamed down his face.

"jeeze, I've seen some of us take the transformation pretty hard, but come on, I think your overreacting just a little bit. does it really bother you that much to feed on people?" Sora's head shot in the direction of a voice, the first thing he noticed was an iconic head of messy blue hair with two cowlicks in the shape of wolf ears.

"you!" Sora screeched fearfully.

"yup" he said with a smile and a wave. "Now if you'd just calm down for a moment I might be able to help you understand what you are, wait!" he said as Sora peeled off running into the woods.

" _I just have to get away from here! Run, far far away from everything!"_ he said as he broke through thorn bushes and piles of dead twigs and leaves. He would have kept running but he smacked headfirst into tatsumi's chest.

"please. If you would just let me explain" he said with an irritated sigh as Sora heeled off in a side direction. Once more Tatsumi beat him to the clearing, this time stopping Sora with a hard punch right under his ribs. Sora spat blood as he fell flat on his back. The sickening thud from the punch was still ringing in his ears, though the blow was so hard he went numb, skipping past the pan of impact. "I tried to do it the nice way but now your gonna lay there until I finish talking." Sora gasped for the air Tatsumi so efficiently knocked out of him.

"I-I can't move my legs." Sora panted in a hoarse voice.

"I bet you can't, after all, I hit you hard enough to shatter your spine." Sora pondered that for a moment, in shock he raised a hand to speak again.

"am I gonna be a cripple for the rest of my life?!" Sora gasped. Tatsumi slapped his forehead in irritation.

"just shut up and calm down, I'll explain to you what you need to know. Firstly, you aren't human anymore. But I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you knew that already." Sora about to pass out from the trauma, but Tatsumi lightly slapped his cheek to get him to focus. "you're a creature called a jinrou. We're named after werewolves, but in reality we are actually a superior subspecies of vampire."

"f-fucking what? Vampires aren't real!" Sora spat. Tatsumi moved close to Sora's face and bore his fangs.

"we are indeed." He said as he pointed to the fangs in his mouth "you're actually an interesting case, jinrou aren't totally different from humans, but surely you would have noticed before the thirst got to you. How long do you suppose you've been one? Remember any point in the past where you got really sick? As if the life was sucked out of you?" Sora looked at him in shock.

"y-yeah…. a couple months ago…" Tatsumi smiled in an almost professional way when he heard that.

"that must have been it. A normal vampire or a jinrou must have fed on you." Tatsumi said with a wink.

"what? I think id remember if someone did something like that to me!" Sora wheezed as the pain from the punch started to build.

"you probably wouldn't. See, we can exert influence over and hypnotize people when we drink their blood, make them forget something, give them commands, etcetera. Anyway, two months…you would have had to notice within a few weeks from hunger alone, so I have no idea how you've remained this oblivious" Sora looked away guiltily as Tatsumi questioned him.

"can we hypnotize ourselves?" Sora asked quietly as he shifted his body up, wiping away damp leaves and pine resin from the forest floor.

"I'm not sure, when a vampire drinks vampire blood, it's sort of like drinking alcohol, they get a powerful drunken feeling, and since we need to actually draw blood to use that power, you really wouldn't be in the right mind to do something like that.

"I actually think I might have once… about a month after I got sick I lost control of myself and attacked a friend, some kind of primal instinct took hold of me and it's like I wasn't myself, but then I snapped back to normal after I finished…I freaked out and ran to the bathroom, buried the fangs I had sprouted into my arm and told myself to forget that night and all the pain I was going through, it was an unconscious desire I guess. It was only after I lost control and fed on that girl, kaori, that I remembered everything… "

"normal humans will never remember something you tell them to forget even after the hypnosis wears off, but since jinrou and vampires will heal any injury as long as we aren't staked in the heart or get our head cut off, it seems at least possible. It would certainly explain how you've remained so oblivious to your situation." Sora looked in surprise as Tatsumi explained the situation.

"you…said…we…heal injuries?" Sora asked as the feeling came back to his legs. Tatsumi smiled in an unsettling manner and Sora could feel a chill down his back, as well as the cold earth from the forest floor. He shivered as his legs started to tingle. It was an electric feeling, like a limb waking up after you've been setting it in a strange position, every little movement caused an explosion of pins and needles in the muscle that Sora used.

"yep. That's why you aren't destined for a wheelchair even though I crippled you. Cuts and lesions will close up within minutes, broken bones will set themselves back, though this takes longer, and it's impossible for us to bruise. Normal vampires heal faster than jinrou do, but they are fairly weak in other ways." Sora scratched his head as he shakily stood up.

"so, there are two types… I remember you saying jinrou were superior, but how is that?" he asked hesitantly. Tatsumi shot Sora a wolfish grin. " _this guy really gives me the creeps…I can see the bloodlust in his eyes…"_

"normal vampires will burn to a crisp in sunlight, they are afraid of spiritual symbols and artifacts, and they can't go into a place unless invited. also, they need blood every day or at least every other day to survive. Jinrou on the other hand are perfectly fine in the light, religious things don't bother us and we can go weeks without blood if we need to, though we will grow weak and frail without it. we still can't go into a place unless invited, but we make up for it in other ways. One thing I'm sure you've notices is that your senses are more powerful. Like when you tried to find that megumi girl in the mountains. You peeled off in a different direction because you caught her scent. All of our senses are vastly superior to humans. And when we've fed recently we're ten times as strong as a normal person, so strong in fact that if we aren't careful we could do as much damage to ourselves as to the target of our force. One more thing to remember is that vampires are basically dead dead and jinrou are alive. They have no pulse or body heat. There's more to it than that, but you'll pick the rest up soon enough." Sora dusted the dried leaves away from his shirt and sneezed when the dirt hit his face.

"so…why tell me this? What do you want from me?" Sora asked suspiciously as the two began to stare each other down. Both immediately noticed the tension hanging in the air, the same sort of tension when an alpha wolf sizes up a challenger. Tatsumi took a step forward towards Sora. Sora, though hesitantly took a step forward as well, seemingly in defiance of the oppressive aura Tatsumi was emanating. The two were silent for a moment, but both put up their guard.

" _I need to handle this carefully, Sunako will be pretty pissed if I let this one slip through my fingers...I wish Yoshie was here too, in terms of brute strength she's got me beat, though my senses are much more acute than hers…but that won't help me subdue this one if he gets out of line._ I want you to come with me." Tatsumi said with a bit of extra aggression. Sora hesitated for a moment, but reluctantly followed.

"that girl I attacked, what's going to happen to her?" Sora asked mindlessly as Tatsumi led him deeper into the woods.

"you just fed on her once, so she'll be pretty weak and sick, but she'll live. A third time will kill her, so be prepared just in case she rises up, she might be mad at you if she does." Sora shot him a flabbergasted look.

"what?! I'm not gonna feed on her again, it was just a moment of weakness. Most of the villagers are pretty vile people, but I'm not gonna just kill them." He spat indignantly. In an instant, Tatsumi turned and grabbed Sora's neck, with one arm he lifted him into the air and began to choke him. Sora gasped and gargled for air, clawing at his throat. He was taken by such surprise that he barely noticed the suffocating feeling.

"now listen here. I could kill you pretty easily right now, jinrou can suffocate just like normal people. You don't get a choice about whether you kill or not. As of right now, you're a dog on a leash, you'll do what I say when I say to do it if you value your life. You'll kill who we say to kill, and when we say to kill them. I don't care if it's a vampire, I don't care if it's a villager. Insubordination will NOT be tolerated." He said through gritted teeth. Sora was taken aback when he noticed tatsumi's eyes. They were black as the night, with a glowing red ring where the iris should have been. He gasped for breath, but Tatsumi was crushing his windpipe with an inhuman grip, all Sora could think to do was claw at the hand lifting him, but watched in horror the scratches disappeared before his eyes.

"I-I refuse!" Sora gasped as he grabbed Tatsumi's wrist. With the last burst of strength, he squeezed as hard as he could. The fingers loosened around his neck and Sora could feel the bones in tatsumi's arm start to bow and crack. " _that's right! I'm strong like he is"_ he thought with a brief moment of elation. Tatsumi howled in pain for a moment and dropped Sora. In another second, Sora landed and threw himself at Tatsumi, sending both rolling on the floor. "I refuse!" Sora yelled defiantly as he straddled Tatsumi, fists raised like a boxer within clinching distance. "you can't make me do it!" he said as he slammed a fist down as hard as he could, Tatsumi jerked his head to the side causing Sora's fist to collide with the large rock underneath them. He pulled his bleeding knuckles away from the shattered stone, and both winced as the splinters embedded themselves into the cheeks of the struggling jinrou.

"yes we can." Tatsumi said with a smug smile. Sora looked angrily at him for a second, but recoiled in pain as Tatsumi delivered a powerful head-butt. Sora tumbled off him, and staggered to his feet, fists raised. He felt a cooling sensation as the cuts on his face started to heal.

"how could you? From what I've seen I'm just as strong as you, maybe even a little stronger." Sora said as he spat out the blood that was pooling in his mouth.

"that girl who just died. Megumi right? Weren't you two close?" Sora leered at him.  
"what of it?" he asked bitterly. Tatsumi smirked as he noticed Sora's eyes change, now both of them were staring down the black eyes of a predator.

"well the blonde woman you met in kanemasa, chizuru, is the one who killed her." Sora had a look of such fury that it caused Tatsumi to hesitate for just the slightest moment. "she fed on that girl until she died. But let me tell you something interesting, new vampires are born when someone dies like that. In a few days megumi should rise up from her grave to join us. If you don't submit to me and cooperate fully, I'll make you watch as I kill her all over again." Sora took a thundering step closer to Tatsumi, fully prepared to pounce on him once more.

"oh yeah? Well what if I kill you first" Sora spat as he bore his fangs. Tatsumi smiled sadistically and took a step towards Sora again.

"do you really think you and I are the only jinrou? There's one more besides me, Yoshie, and she's got much more brute strength than I do. You don't have a prayer against her. We already know what you are and what to do if something happens to me. I suggest you clean up your act and join us. You might be a jinrou but even you will have trouble against her, not to mention all the other vampires." Sora took a step back and Tatsumi took one forward. "this whole process can go as easily as you want it too as long as you do what we say. You can even be together with her once she rises up." Sora thought about it, and considered jumping Tatsumi again. But ultimately he took a deep breath and calmed down.

"what do you want me to do?" he asked begrudgingly.

'that's the spirit. Just keep following me for now." Tatsumi walked forward once more with Sora reluctantly in tow. The two kept scratching at their clothes because of the humidity in the woods, but after a long walk Tatsumi directed Sora to an old run down shack nestled in between two pine trees. Sora got an unsettling feeling as he looked over the rotting building. The boards were broken and bowing, and the windows, what was left of them, were splintered, and the glass yellowed. Tatsumi graciously opened the broken door revealing a person, bound and gagged, lying on the floor.

"Kill him"

**as always please leave a review or comment, they mean a great deal to me and i look forward to hearing what you guys have to say**


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sora and seshin have a deep conversation on the temple steps

**sorry for the short chapter, but i felt that this one had a message that needed to be read on its own, rather than be stuffed in and suffocated by another, longer chapter**

"kill him" Tatsumi barked as he pointed to the man bound and gagged on the rotting floor of the abandoned shack. Sora's eyes suspiciously wafted back up to meet tatsumi's, this time not black with predacious intent, but timid and young, one of the last bastions of innocence left in Sora.

"what?! Why?! What did he do?!" Tatsumi smirked as Sora danced around the order.

"not a thing. It doesn't matter who he is or what he did, I told you to kill him, so kill him." Sora gritted his teeth and walked closer inspecting the man. The odor was rife and oppressive, the stink of fear, of being abandoned, and it caused Sora's nose to curl in disgust.

"I can't." Sora said as he turned his gaze. " _could I even do something like that? I don't feel an ounce of guilt for feeding on kaori, she should live, but this is different…"_

"we've already weakened him, not that a jinrou would need it, feed on him, and then he'll die." He said with that sickening domineering smirk. Sora wanted to lash out, something about that smirk burned him up and he suddenly had the overwhelming desire to wipe it from tatsumi's face. He wanted to rip one of the boards from the floor and shove it down the bastard's throat. He knew he could do it too, whereas the thought of killing an innocent person sickened him, the thought of killing Tatsumi was comforting, almost pleasurable even. Ultimately it couldn't work, if like Tatsumi said, this other jinrou was much more powerful it would put megumi in danger. Maybe he could figure a way to weasel out of tatsumi's grip later, but for now it was best to just play ball.

"I can't feed. I'm full, remember, kaori." Sora said, holing out a fading hope Tatsumi would call the whole thing off for now and leave Sora be. Tatsumi seemed to have a flicker of inspiration however.

"fine, you'll just have to kill him normally." Sora looked at him, utterly flabbergasted. "consider it punishment for tackling me earlier." Sora listened to the last command in horror as he walked closer.

"how would I do that?" he said as the man made a groaning noise, locking eyes with Sora for a brief instant.

"break his neck, suffocate him, stab him to death with one of the boards, hell, you can just stay here and watch him die of thirst if you want, we've got time. Fast, slow, painful, whatever your heart desires." Sora listened, sickened by the almost carefree joy Tatsumi seemed to be taking in the task. He slowly walked over to the man, a look of guilt on his face.

"I'm so sorry." He choked out as he tried to suppress tears. He grabbed the man by the top of the head, and placed the flat of his palm on the back of his neck. He hesitated, waited several minutes before Tatsumi spoke up.

"do it. Now. Or megumi is gonna be the one in this position, only I'll make sure she suffers plenty before I finally rip her head off with brute strength" Sora, infuriated, pressed his palm down hard into the back of the man's neck. He heard a sickening crunch and watched as the man twitched on the ground for a few moments before finally going limp. Sora took a deep breath and buried his face in his hands. He just sat there like that for a while, no noises, no tears. He just sat and thought. Tatsumi bore a victorious smirk.

"well done. That's all I want from you today, but my master Sunako, the little girl with purple hair, should be dropping by the temple tonight. Do whatever she asks of you then. I'd suggest you go back to the funeral; they are about to bury her." Sora, defeated, slowly rose and silently walked out of the cabin, wandering aimlessly back to the shimizu home with a vacant stare. He walked along the casket as they moved it to what they thought would be her final resting place. Sora felt an overwhelming relief amidst the chaos of everything that was happening. Megumi wasn't gone after all, and now more than ever he longed to see her.

**Several hours later**

Sora sat on the temple steps staring aimlessly at the night sky awaiting the girl Tatsumi said was coming by. He was still deeply lost in thought and his hand was still shaking from when he gave the fatal blow to that man.

" _I should feel worse than I do…this should bother me so much more than it is, but for some reason I only feel a bit guilty…the fact that it doesn't bother me much bothers me more than the actual deed itself. If I really aren't human anymore then does that mean I've lost my humanity? No, I'd guess I still have it, I can still feel love for megumi, admiration and respect for Seshin...maybe I've only lost some of it…. I wish I knew what to think…"_ he thought with a hunted look in his eye.

"Sora, what are you thinking about?" Seshin asked, interrupting Sora mid thought. He turned, slightly startled, but smiled warmly at Seshin.

"oh…everything I guess." He said as he rubbed his cheeks.

"I understand completely." Seshin said with a sad smile of his own. "I know you and megumi were close, even with the short time you spent together. I wish things could be different, the young shouldn't die before the old." Sora sighed as Seshin spoke.

"yeah…. you know…I think I'm really starting to hate this village." Seshin look surprised, but laughed.

"you know…. I hate it too." He said with a laugh. "lots of my novels deal with things like loneliness and sadness. Here in sotoba neither are in limited supply…I think…. I think that more than anything is the reason I took you in, I wanted to know someone new, a different perspective." Sora looked at him with bewildered, if not admiring, surprise.

"yeah, I've read your books Seshin." He said with a friendly smirk.

"really? Tell me, what did you think of them?" he asked, masking a glimmer of excitement.

"I hated them." Sora said bluntly. He felt a pang of guilt as he saw a slightly disappointed look in seshin's eye. "don't get me wrong, your writing style is amazing, such rich imagery and detail, putting myself inside the story was as natural as breathing. It's just…I hate tragedies. There is no reason for them to exist." He said as he bit down on his thumb nervously.

"what? Of course there is. Tragedies help you grow; they teach you that you need to work out your flaws as opposed to letting them consume you." Seshin said, slightly defensively.

"life is hard enough as it is, if I want to evoke feelings of pity and grief I don't need to do anything more than look out the window. People get consumed by their flaws all the time, you just have to be observant enough to see that on your own. I think stories are an escape, somewhere to go to, if just for a moment, to experience something so rich and incredible life could rarely offer you the same feeling. In life there is no shortage of tragedy, so making them is simply unnecessary." Seshin pondered this for a moment.

"still, they can work as sobering reminders." He said, though with a lack of conviction, something about what Sora said hit a pleasant note with him.

"if you really wanted an effective reminder then you should make two stories, one tragic version, and one happy, or at least bittersweet version. Something that will show the flaw and what happens if you let it get the better of you, and something to show the triumph and peace that you get if you can overcome it, and why it's worthwhile to work towards your own happy ending." Seshin thought about it for a moment.

"that's a comforting thought…I might just write a novel like that someday." Sora was flattered for a moment and smiled warmly at Seshin, who returned a warm smile of his own.

"I think the reason I hate sotoba the most is because most of the villagers refuse to accept change, and lash out violently against it. They treated megumi so badly, and they avoid me like the plague. It bothers me." Seshin gave Sora a knowing look as he waved his silver hair away from his bangs.

"sotoba is an old village. Most of the people are old, and the traditions even older, people find comfort in what they know and they stick to it diligently, so diligently that they end up trying to force others to do the same, perhaps thinking it's for their own good, or because they wish to see it on a whim, like they did with megumi. I'd say that would be sotoba's flaw if this were a tragedy."

"what do you mean Seshin…. this IS a tragedy." Sora laughed somberly.

"something tells me that the tragic story happened in a different world in a different time." Seshin thought deeply.

"Smile Sora, I'm certain this is the happy version"

**by tragic version i meant the source material, not the other version of to tempt fate, anyway this was a bit of a character builder for sora and seshin, i hoped you liked this little chapter, please tell me what you thought of it, this chapter especially. i want to know your opinions on sora and seshins little exchange**


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sunako introduces sora to her family. with friends like those, who needs enemies

**here, another chapter, longer this tme. ive been really motivated to write lately so ive been able to fire these off pretty rapidly, hope you enjoy**

"excuse me, Mr. muroi?" both Sora and Seshin looked up quickly, ripped from the silent moment. There stood a girl, maybe twelve, with her hands cupped at her waist. She curtsied gracefully with her dress and bowed her head towards the two.

"yes, can I help you?" Seshin said with a friendly smile. Sora briefly made eye contact with the girl. Yes, he thought, she was the one from the mansion. He'd never forget that familiar paleness of her skin, the darkness that now inhabited what once were surely innocent eyes. She beamed a smile at Seshin, it certainly made him feel warm inside, but for Sora at least, it was nothing short of unsettling.

"you're a fiction writer. I like your books a lot." She said softly.

"you've read them?" he asked, slightly confused. He stood up and walked down a few steps with Sora, now on his guard following shortly behind him. Sunako smiled at Seshin once more as Sora locked eyes with her. Just for a moment she laughed softly when she saw them go black. Seshin probably assumed she laughed at his question, but the girl was actually acknowledging Sora's challenging stare.

"yes, why. Is it strange?" she asked, genuinely star struck. Seshin smiled back and knelt before her.

"not at all. In fact, I'm glad you like them. At least someone does." He looked back at Sora with a joking smirk. "but you are definitely my youngest reader… _I know Sora had his doubts about these people, but she seems like such a sweet girl."_

"you don't like them Sora?" Sunako said with faux innocence. Sora walked out in front of Seshin, almost assuming a protective stance.

"I had a chance to read them after you told me about them that day I met you in kanemasa, and I have to say, while Seshin writes brilliantly, I hated how tragic were. They made me feel so lonely and depressed." Seshin looked towards them, slightly surprised.

"so you two know each other after all?" Sunako beamed another unsettling smile.

"yes, Sora was the one who gave my father that thoughtful gift your temple prepared. He'd been talking with my father, so I only got to meet him for a few moments, but I knew I liked him immediately." Seshin laughed a little.

"I'd almost forgotten about that. The poor boy was white as a ghost when he came back, your father must be an intimidating guy." Seshin shared a laugh with her. "I'm sorry if he was rude, he told me he left in a hurry, but don't hold it against him, he's been through a lot." Sunako gave Sora a suspicious stare, but resumed a normal expression shortly afterward.

"yeah. Sorry about that." Sora said, hiding the bitterness in his voice as well as he could.

"well anyway I need to get going, I want to come by again and get a book signed, I hope that's okay." She asked timidly.

"of course it is. I might just be writing a new novel later, Sora gave me a good idea, so I'll be sure to let you both read a few chapters before I publish it." She blushed a bit, it contrasted sharply with her pale cheeks, almost as if someone had spray painted a dark red under her eyes.

" _so vampires can blush?"_ Sora thought curiously.

"oh my! That would be absolutely wonderful!" she squealed. "anyway I really must go for now…. Sora, would you care to walk me home? I don't know the village well and it's hard to see on a night this dark" she said, eying him seriously. Sora, in a moment of realization nodded quickly.

"yeah. Of course. _I hope you keep your back turned, I might just shove a stake through it on the way."_ The two eyed each other with those predacious black eyes for a moment. Then Sunako broke the tension with a gracious smile. Reluctantly, Sora stood up and Sunako took his hand gently. She waved goodbye to Seshin as the two walked down the steps, once out of earshot Sunako squeezed Sora's hand so tightly it hurt, he jerked it away, yelping in surprised pain.

" _weird…Sora said he'd never go back…"_ Seshin thought, but quickly waved the notion aside.

"just how much did you tell him after your visit that day." She asked masking what was most likely an annoyed anger with a veil of calmness. Sora, seeing through it retorted back snidely.

"oh nothing, just that the new people seemed nice, quite pale though, and they had these unsightly fangs too." He eyed her sternly, and she calmly walked forward taking no real threat from Sora.

"hmp. And how did he react?" she asked, this time genuinely curious.

"you saw how well he received you didn't you, he didn't believe a word I said. Apparently megumi didn't either since she went to your place despite me begging her not to." Sunako smirked a little bit.

"I am sorry about that. it must have been pretty hard thinking she was dead, especially with all that's happened to you." She reached up to pat Sora on the head again but he pushed her hand away. "hmp, you should be thankful she's going to rise. Not everyone does." He eyed her curiously.

"how do you know that she'll rise?" he said, an unsettling grief about to wash over him again.

"with that nose you jinrou have I'm surprised you yourself didn't think something was off at the funeral. Why didn't you notice any smell of decay?" Sora looked at her, floored with surprise.

" _come to think of it I didn't smell any rot…_ but it was just one day, bodies don't start to decompose in a day." He said. She smiled sweetly.

"they don't start to **stink** in a day, but they certainly decompose. The immune cells within the bloodstream stop fighting off pathogens as soon as the body dies, fungi and bacteria start setting in to do their work immediately, it's a smell undetectable at first to normal humans, but the volatile gasses they produce should still be detectable to creatures like dogs and jinrou. When a corpse is destined to rise as a vampire the cells start to heal any injury made by decomposers immediately, and eventually the immune cells in their blood reactivate, at least to a degree. Though as you can probably tell, we still don't breathe or have body heat, but most of our organs function at least at the most basic level." Sora thought curiously as Sunako explained it to him.

"so...blood is the only food source you guys can live on right? Tatsumi told me jinrou need it too, but it seems like more of a supplement to us." Sunako smiled.

"yes. Every night to stay healthy. If we go without it a powerful, painful hunger will overwhelm us, a hunger so fierce that even murder seems like a small price to pay for slating it, but I'm sure you've noticed that already." Sora looked away guiltily. "I remember it used to bother me too, but you get used to the idea of attacking people."

"attacking people doesn't bother me, but killing them does." Sunako looked at him, a bit of sadness glinted in her soulless eyes for a moment.

"I gave Tatsumi a harsh lecture about making you do that by the way, it was a waste of perfectly good food." Something about what she said struck a sour note with Sora.

"a waste of a life too." Sora spat back bitterly.

"yes, you're right, he might have risen." This only made Sora angrier. "anyway when we get back to the mansion ill introduce you properly to everyone." Sora clicked his tongue.

"what do you all even want with me. Are all of you vampires?" Sunako smiled cheerfully at his question.

"I'm glad you asked, other than Seshiro, the man with the gun, yes, all of us are vampires or jinrou. There's me, chizuru, shizuka, ebuchi, Tatsumi and the other jinrou, Yoshie. As well as sasaki, but you won't be meeting him, he patrols as a village cop." Sora nodded resentfully.

"I have some choice words for chizuru." Sora said as he cracked his knuckles. Sunako turned back and looked at him with fierce stern red eyes.

"I understand your situation" she said with a dreadful hiss that made Sora recoil a bit with a mixture of surprised fear "but remember your place. As of right now you are the lowest ranked vampire in my family. I'm growing tired with your lack of respect." She said with more primal ferocity than a snubbed drill sergeant. It first surprised then angered Sora who shot back at her with a malevolent stare of his own.

"and you remember this, I'm not your dog, I'm not your servant. You can't bark out blanket orders to me whenever you want. You might have me over a barrel with megumi, but if ANYTHING happens to her, you're doing or otherwise, ill drag you out into the sun myself, whether Tatsumi or this other jinrou tries to stop me or not. I'll play along for now but don't think you own me like you do Tatsumi." Sunako, slightly taken aback, changed her tone to something a bit more sympathetic.

"I see you require a softer touch than some of the others, but everyone is different. Let me explain something to you, as of now you are a precious member of my family, I'll do everything I can to make sure you have a place to belong, that your needs are satisfied to the best of my ability, but you have to contribute, what I ask won't be unreasonable and as long as you do the best you can I promise that you can be happy." She said, with a genuinely kind smile to Sora.

"fine. What would I be doing?"

"see, you can be reasoned with, it's a shame you have such a massive problem with authority, jinrou are in utterly short supply, and you all are so very capable." Sunako started to embellish a bit.

"get to the point. What do you want me doing, what's your ultimate goal here?" Sora said as he irritably tapped his foot. Sunako sighed.

"impatient aren't we. Fine. I want to build a settlement for vampires here in sotoba, I want to turn all of the villagers into vampires and jinrou here." Sora paced in front of her with a flabbergasted look on his face.

"are you insane, don't you know how many people you'd be killing? Not to mention, where will hundreds of vampires get blood from?" Sunako looked at him bitterly.

"no, I'm quite in my right mind. I've been a vampire for over a hundred years and one thing I've never truly had since I was human is a place to belong. As for the blood, Seshiro owns a large company, we have the resources to run blood drives all over the world." Sora horrified, lifted Sunako up by the collar of her shirt.

"you can do that and yet you want to kill hundreds of innocent people?! You want to make the turned kill their friends and families?! Why aren't you satisfied with the family you have? You've got the people you mentioned and yet you want to take something that you have no right to?!" Sora spat with rage.

"don't you lecture me about the morality of killing. After all, you murdered that man in cold blood." Sora slapped Sunako hard in the cheek, she recoiled a bit when she saw the fury in his eyes.

"I had no other choice. That bastard Tatsumi forced me to." Sunako calmly moved Sora's arm away and stood back up.

"is that what you tell yourself? You certainly did have a choice. You could have refused to do it, and Tatsumi would have physically been unable to force you to, but you did it anyway, whether it was to protect someone, to feed, it's all the same. You killed them. And the blame lies solely on your shoulders." Sora stepped back and looked on with a mixture of horror, anger and shock. "don't you understand? That's what it means to be a vampire. You have to kill, you have to hurt to survive, whether you killed or not doesn't matter, humans will never see us as anything other than monsters, and they'll kill us without an ounce of guilt. Now, as for what I want you doing, I want you to start feeding and turning villagers, as well as any other tasks Tatsumi has for you, usually digging graves or breaking in new vampires." Sora looked at her, still feeling chaotic.

"you don't have to kill anyone, you have a choice to let them go after two feedings, and they'll live. As for me, I'll help Tatsumi dig graves and train new vampires, but I refuse to kill even a single person more." Sora said indignantly.

"is it really so terrible to kill the villagers? After all, they don't have anything but contempt for you. I know, we've been watching you since you came to our house that day." Sora, slightly paranoid, remained firm in his position.

"I won't." he said, adamantly.

"you will. If you don't then megumi will have to suffer for it. It's not so hard if you think about it this way, the faster the village is cleared out the faster you two can live full lives again. And if we do this fast then the villagers also won't get wind of us. If they do then they'll surely try to kill us first, megumi included. Besides, it's not like they suffer much, you aren't torturing them, it's not even murder, it's just survival." She said with a triumphant smile.

" _I'd be condemning every life I take to do the same as I do"_ then Sora started to get angry _"so what, not like the world has been very kind to me either" …_ Sora thought begrudgingly. "fine. As long as megumi AND Seshin come to no harm."

"I accept." She smiled politely. "I wasn't going to turn him yet anyway, but if you insist I suppose we can spare him ultimately. You should have told us you were a jinrou before we attacked megumi, we'd have spared her the fate of being a vampire too." Sora looked away bitterly.

"I didn't even know I wasn't human till Tatsumi told me."

"well, I suppose that's an unfortunate twist of fate. But at least she isn't gone." Sunako said with her usual piercing grin. She hurried him along to kanemasa, he opened the door, still reeling from their discussion and walked them both inside.

"everyone, please line up to meet the newest member of our family!" Sunako yelled through an intercom on a wall. Within a few minutes Sora saw the others walk out from various hallways in the home, all of them lined up neatly and bowed graciously, even Tatsumi. "Sora, I want you to shake all of their hands and introduce yourself properly." He growled under his breath and slowly started up the line. The first was an unsettling looking man with dark circular shades and a fedora.

"hello, my name is ebuchi. I was a doctor before I became a vampire, so if you have any questions about your condition, I'm the one to ask." Sora quickly shook his hand and moved to the next one. Sora looked over her closely, it was a girl about Sunako's age with a ventriloquist dummy in the shape of a geisha woman.

"hi, I'm shizuka matsuo" she spoke through the dummy in a high pitched voice Sora cared little for. He reached his hand out to her but recoiled when she presented the arm of the dummy to shake instead. With a sigh Sora shook it and moved on once more. The next person was a familiar face. A tall shapely blonde woman extended a hand to Sora.

"chizuru kirashiki, but we've met before. You're still just as cute as ever." She said with a glamorous smile that made Sora sick to his stomach. He grabbed her hand and squeezed down with as much pressure as he could muster and she let out a yelp in pain. "oww! That's too hard!" she said as tears started to pool in her black eyes.

"is it?" Sora said with a slightly sadistic smirk, squeezing even harder. So hard he could hear the bones in her fingers start to crack. He would have crushed them into dust were it not for a stern look from both Sunako and Tatsumi.

"oh, that's right, I killed your lover didn't I." she said with a hint of genuine guilt. Sora let go of her hand and moved down the line once more. This time to Seshiro who reluctantly held out his hand, any injury Sora gave to him wouldn't heal like it did for chizuru.

"Seshiro kirashiki." He said tepidly, Sora shook his hand like a proper gentleman would. Seshiro sighed with relief as Sora moved down the line once more, this time to an attractive woman just a little older than he was. He looked at her dark red hair and smiled. He took note of her scent, the same that he'd smelled from Tatsumi and took her hand. Unlike the icy cold grip chizuru and ebuchi had, hers was warm.

"Yoshie" she smiled politely as Sora held her hand.

"so YOU'RE the jinrou Tatsumi is so afraid of? I don't buy it." He said snidely. The smile quickly vanished when she pulled the same stunt he had just done to chizuru. He gritted his teeth in pain as he tried to pull his hand free. It was no use, her grip was like a vice and all at once Sora knew Tatsumi was telling the truth. She let go, smiling at him in a friendly way as if nothing had happened. He shook her hand and shot her a dirty look before moving on to the last in line. It was Tatsumi this time. Both of them grabbed the others hand and squeezed as hard as they could, staring at each other fiercely, like two lions fighting for dominance.

"I'm Tatsumi, but we're both well acquainted." He said with a sadistic smile and fangs bared.

"Sora, yes I'd say we have quite the history." He said, sporting the same fangs and smirk. The two stood like that, eyes locked, the others grew wary of the tension in the room and they could both hear the bones in their fingers starting to bow and crack. Both looked on slightly nervous but unwilling to give the other an inch or show any weakness. The staring match would have continued indefinitely until Yoshie walked between the two and lifted both by the neck, one in each arm. She pressed down on their windpipes and began to speak in a strong voice.

"play nice boys." She said with a dazzling smile. Both exchanged wary glances as she sat them down. She walked over to Sunako and they had the chance to take a deep breath.

"jeeze, she's like a hyena." Sora said with a cough.

"tell me about it." Tatsumi exclaimed warily. Sunako ushered Sora to take a place in line and began to speak loudly.

"listen up everyone. We need to take sotoba. It's time for us to have a home of our own. A place we can call safe. We need warm beds to sleep during the day, we need a place where we don't have to conceal what we are. I know some of us aren't as willing as others to make this happen" she eyed Sora with a piercing stare. "but I want to assure you that this is the fastest way to get back to normal. Once we own the village we can live full lives, the lives fate so cruelly stole from us." Aside from Sora they all began to clap. He shuddered nervously.

" _I'm in deep shit aren't I…"_ Sora shivered.

"Yoshie, I want you to take Sora into the village and teach him how to hunt properly."

**hope you all enjoyed tell me what you think and ask questions if you have them. im not sure how many more chapters ill be able to fire out like this before i run out of steam, but ill try my best not to take a month in between posting like last time**


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yoshie begins to instruct sora on the fine art of killing

**im baaaaack lol, heres a shorter chapter you all can cut your teeth on till the next update**

"now Sora, normal vampires can only walk around after dark so they have e to hunt at night. We jinrou can go either time, and if we eat enough blood we don’t even have to sleep, so don’t worry if it seems like there is too much to do between your two lives.” Yoshie said with a smile as she walked ahead of him.

“you can fuck right off if you think im doing every little task you tell me to.” He said with a snarl. Yoshie gave him an intimidating look and turned around.

“you know what’s at stake here don’t you. And you know I can make you if I have too.” She said as her eyes turned that sinister shade of black.

“can you? You might have gotten me by surprise back there but a real fight is different, I don’t have much to lose, so you’d be surprised just how savage I can be.” Sora said with a low growl.

“I have a pretty good idea actually, remember, ive been a jinrou far longer than you or tatsumi.” Sora clicked his tounge. “you shouldn’t even be worried about it, basically all we ask you do is to feed on someone every night, then that same person for another two nights in a row to finish them off. You can pretty much feed on anyone unless we ask you for someone specific. So, got any bullies or enemies? We can get them first if you want.” She said with a genuinely kind smile that made sora blush a little.

“I’ve only been here a month so no one comes to mind besides maybe the doctors mother. Since your forcing me to kill I’d rather kill old people or criminals. Or at least someone I don’t know.” Sora said. The morbidity of the statement sent a chill down his spine.

“quite a sense of justice you have.” She said with a laugh. “it might be better for you to kill people you like, they can rise after all.” The two kept walking along the secluded path. “I like this place, you can hear so many kinds of animals, and this path is nice.”

“I couldn’t care less. I used to like animals, but ever since I turned they all pretty much hate me.” He said grumpily.

“yeah, it’s a shame, but that’s the price to pay for immortality.” Sora gave her a curious look.

“we don’t age?” he said with just the slightest hint of excitement.

“I thought it was obvious, we are a kind of vampire after all.” She said with a laugh.

“It just never occurred to me I guess. Damn. I wish whoever turned me waited until I was a bit older.” He said with a reluctant sigh.

“don’t like the way you are? Be grateful, lots of people get turned when they’re kids or old people, stuck at those uncomfortable ages forever. Be happy you were turned in your prime.” Sora thought about it, and realized she had a good point.

“so how old are you? And tatsumi?” he asked out of bored curiosity.

“im fifty-five. Tatsumi is twenty-three.” She said, leaving sora slightly confused.

“fifty five? You look like a college student, though tatsumi I can believe.” The two walked closer to the inner heart of the village, sora could see lights flickering and could hear lots of activity bustling around “well I was turned when I was twenty.” She said flirtatiously with a dazzling smile.

“ _thirty five years like this. I cant imagine. Then again as long as im not killed I could go that long iside the homes that dotted the street._

 _too, for eternity even……jeeze that’s a scary thought.”_ He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind after a moment. “so, one thing I don’t understand, how come you’re so strong? Tatsumi is at least ten inches taller than me and jacked like a brick shithouse, yet I can go toe to toe with him pretty evenly…and im a fairly lithe guy.” Sora said.

”its because you’ve been jinrou for similar lengths of time. Tatsumi has been a jinrou for about a year, and you said you turned two months ago. Neither of your muscles have adjusted well yet, and you also had fed a bit more recently than he did. Im stronger because my body has completely adapted after all this time. Im just more at home in my own skin. By the way, after a while you’ll bulk up the way he has, tatsumi was rather slim when Sunako turned him too.” Sora chuckled a bit at that last bit.

“then why aren’t **you** ripped to shreds?” Sora blurted as Yoshie laughed hysterically.

“I am by female standards, girls usually don’t grow big muscles like that” She stopped him. “down to business. That house at the end of the street looks promising, no one is around to see.” Sora looked away guiltily.

“do I absolutely have to? Why are you guys even doing this? Sunako said you could hold blood drives. So why kill anyone.” Yoshie looked at him sympathetically.

“let me tell you a story.” She took a deep breath. “I wasn’t turned by Sunako or her group, someone else I don’t know turned me for whatever reason. For a while I was fine…but didn’t realize what I was for a month, but then that horrible hunger fell over me. I attacked someone in public and had to flee. Id been wandering for years until Sunako found me and took me in. I’ll be eternally grateful for the kindness she showed me. You have to realize something, now that you are the way you are you can’t ever fit in with normal people again. Even if you can keep your feedings secret, they’ll start to get suspicious because you wont age. For vampires this is even harder because they have to feed every day. Sunako wants to build us our own home where we wont be hunted, where we wont be persecuted, if the village has to pay the price then so be it, I’ll do everything in my power to make her dream a reality.” Sora stared on ahead, listening carefully but also psyching himself up for the dark deed. “tatsumi forced you to kill someone in cold blood, so this should be easy. Its not even murder because they can rise, think of it as giving them the gift of eternal life. It actually might not be quite that simple, but it helps wash away a bit of guilt.” Sora sighed.

“ _its for megumi and Seshin, its not like I want to. I HAVE to.…_ what do I do?” he asked gravely as they snuck around to the side of the house facing a thick forest.

“tap lightly on the window, when someone opens it grab their arm and bite. You can also ambush people in back alleyways and in secluded locations” Sora looked at her crossly.

“that’s all there is to it? I could have figured that out on my own...back _alleys? What, am I a freaking crack dealer?”_ he spat as the started tapping the beat to a song on the window.

“hey now! Whats all that racke-gah!” Sora pulled the arm of a heavyset man in his mid forties clean out of the window and bit down as hard as he could. He clasped his hand over the mans mouth as he drank the warm blood gushing out of the artery he punctured.

“now look in his eyes and tell him to do something. Id suggest saying to think of this as a dream and to invite you in the house, but you can order them to do just about anything, sometimes we’ll even ask you to give them special instructions.” Yoshie whispered.

“forget what happened here and be sure to let me inside if I come around again.” Sora said guiltily as the man nodded aimlessly. He rubbed his forehead and looked to Yoshie with pleading eyes. “why are you doing this? Cant you find a better way?” he asked, hoping against hope he might strike a chord with her.

“I suppose if the plan was more efficient id consider it, but not because I want to save any of the villagers lives. Frankly I consider them an inconvenience.” she sighed.

“We can agree on one thing at least” Sora blurted out unconsciously.

“if you don’t care about the villagers then why do you feel so squeamish when you have to kill them?”

“Don't mistake it for humanity...that died the day my father did…” he said with a feral glance.

“Well then this should be easy” she said with a hint of regret as Sora stormed off.

  


**A few days later.**

“ _hmm…something feels so nice…its…warm…almost like a bright light.”_ Her eyes shot open to reveal the terrifying reality. Ripped from her warm sensation magmatic found herself surrounded by total darkness. She tried speaking, asking if anyone was around but no words escaped her lips, only a hoarse gasp. She clawed at her throat hoping for some words to come out, but she couldn’t find the way to say them.

“ _whats going on?!”_ in a panic she extended her arm, wincing in pain as it slammed into a dark ceiling a few inches above her head. Quickly she moved her other hand upwards, touching the invisible wall. She was growing more panicked by the second as she tried squirming and feeling her way around the box. Cold tars dripped down her cheeks as she realized she was trapped.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sora vows to take action after the straw that broke the camels back

**hey, sorry about the late upload, ive been busy lately, but i havent abandoned the story lol, like always be sure to follow/fave and leave a review or pm me if you have questions, have a good read**

" _What's going on?!"_ Megumi thought to herself once more as she lay trapped in her dark prison, clawing and kicking at the unyielding ceiling and darkness just before her. Her thumb hit it at an odd angle and shattered the nail. Megumi winced in pain as she instinctively placed it in her mouth but gasped in surprise as she felt it growing back together. "how the hell?" she tried to say as a hoarse whimper escaped her lips. "H-help me." she futilely tried to cry out as a sinking feeling of hopelessness overcame her. After a few more minutes of struggle she laid back and began to quietly sob, sure she would succumb to whatever horrible fate she had fallen into.

"calm down" a muffled voice said sternly as Megumi could hear what sounded like earth moving above her.

"H-help...please" she gasped once more.

"just shut up and relax. You'll be fine." the voice said, slightly more irritated. After a few more moments Megumi caught a glimpse of light and heard a prying sound. Now with full view of the night sky Megumi slowly sat up and looked around. She grimaced as she wiped away the dirt from her face and stared up and around the hole she was in.

" _i was buried?!"_ she thought in horror as she saw the simple wooden coffin shed been lying in only moments ago.

"I'm sure you have lots of questions though you might find it difficult to ask them at the moment." the voice said with a snide laugh. Megumi turned to face the source of the voice and saw a large man with blue hair cropped into the shape of wolf ears sitting perched at the edge of the hole she was sitting in. "hi'ya. Names Tatsumi." he said with a wave and an air of false pleasantness. Megumi shirked back from him, getting an increasingly uneasy feeling as his yellow eyes seemed to stare through her.

"where am I?" she tried to wheeze out in a barely audible voice. Tatsumi sighed as he extended a hand to help her out of the hole. She reluctantly took it and he lifted her up completely by the arm and set her down feet first on the ground just on the outside of the ditch he'd dug. Megumi turned her gaze and her eyes fell upon a small wooden grave marker with her name ornately scrawled onto it. She shirked away from Tatsumi as he let out a sadistic chuckle when he saw her terrified eyes.

"yes, you are in fact...dead…well sort of." he said with a crooked grin. He put a hand to her face as her mouth hung agape in horror. "now before you try to hit me with a million questions be quiet and let me explain the situation you're in. first off, you are one of the lucky few to have risen as a vampire, consider it a blessing, you wont age from this point, virtually all wounds will heal nearly instantly and you'll never get sick. However religious artifacts will terrify you, the sun will burn you to a crisp, you cant go into a private building without an invitation and of course you'll need to drink human blood every night to survive. There's a little bit more to it than that, but you'll figure that out, I don't really have time to explain the finer details."

"v-ampire?" she wheezed.

"surely you've noticed you aren't breathing. Try inhaling a deep breath before you speak." he said with an annoyed look on his face.

"am I really?" she said more clearly after taking his advice. She struggled to find a way to comprehend all of the information she had to process.

"yep. Now as im sure by now you must remember me from the big mansion on the hill. I was the servant. Everyone in that house is a vampire or is an ally to us. We're prepared to welcome you to our family, but you need to play by our rules. Our end goal is the total conversion of sotoba village, we want to make it into a sanctuary for our kind. This of course means we need to kill the native population and convert them all into vampires…well only about a third actually rise up but you get my point." he said, barely able to contain his sadistic glee. Megumi glanced away and bit her thumb.

"i don't know if I can kill anyone." she said hesitantly. Tatsumi shot her a dreadful glare.

"get used to the idea. As a vampire you'll pretty much be doing it for the rest of eternity." Megumi felt a rock in her stomach. "think about it like this, its your life or theirs, if anyone were to find out what you are I can promise you they'll kill you first, and vampires don't die quickly. Its a fair deal, we'll protect you as long as you do what we say. Whats a few pathetic villagers for eternal life?" Megumi almost chuckled in agreement but then a thought occurred to her.

" _what about Sora? What will he think of me now?! Are they planning to kill him too?!..._ do we have to kill everyone in the village?" Tatsumi smiled smugly at her question.

"to the last woman and child... _i know exactly who she's thinking of, hahaha this could be worth a good laugh just to see him plant her square on her face when she tries to attack him..._ don't worry so much, its not like we're gonna force you to kill your friends and family if you don't want to, we can send someone else to do that. We'll even provide a weak human for you to pop your cherry per-say" Megumi shot Tatsumi a dreadful look this time.

"i don't have any friends in this village...there's only one person I care about here, the rest of them can go to hell." Tatsumi gleefully smiled as Megumi dusted off her funeral gown.

"then you might have found your calling. But after the first human we give you id recommend taking that person out yourself. You wouldn't want a meaner, crueler vampire to do it. Who knows how much they might make them suffer." he said, almost beside himself with the storm he was causing. Megumi looked like she was about to burst into tears.

" _if I do it I can make sure Sora is as comfortable as possible, and there's always a chance he could rise, he might truly die though...then ill be alone all over again. no...i have to be the one, they'll kill him anyway so at least I can spare him some suffering..."_ Tatsumi grinned wolfishly as he watched Megumi pace around with what he thought surely must be tearing her apart.

"for now come with me. We've got some work to do." Tatsumi said as he ushered her towards the mansion on the hill.

**A few days later**

"what the hell does Tatsumi want me to go wait on the side of the road like this for?" Sora asked begrudgingly as yoshie sat down next to him.

"you and I both know that guy has a screw loose. Just do what he says, id rather not deal with him when hes irritated." she said with an equally belated look on her face. "i better go, sunako might think im showing favoritism if I keep hanging around you like this." Sora shot her a smug smile.

"what sunako doesn't know wont hurt her...or maybe it will, even better." Sora said with a laugh. And in a sarcastic voice "and you and I both know I **am** your favorite." she flashed her fangs at him in a playful way.

"don't get ahead of yourself, its not like I have any good choices, a borderline insubordinate or a complete psychopath, I pretty much lose either way." she said with a soft glance.

"well at least im fun." he said with a wink. "anyway I really appreciate you treating me well, sunako just thinks of me as a tool and Tatsumi is looking for any excuse to tear into me, of course ill take him with me, ive already proven I can, but this is horrible what we are doing…whats even worse is its getting easier." he said with a haunted look.

"sunako doesn't just think of you as a tool. She values each and every one of us like a family member." yoshie said sternly.

" _whoops, I hit the sunako button, I keep forgetting yoshie is a complete fanatic…_ I hope thats true...and I hope I can find some kind of solution to our problem that doesn't involve...genocide..." he said with less conviction than he wanted.

"it would be nice...anyway ive got to get going. Just wait until Tatsumi drops by to tell you what he's planning." Sora and yoshie both sighed as he sat back on a small hill right behind a thicket of forest.

"...and now I wait." he said as the minutes started to tick by. Soon enough the minutes became hours and Sora was growing more irritated. " _maybe I should just go, whats the worst they could possibly do to me? Yoshie wont care and Tatsumi can't hurt me anymore than I can hurt him...there is Megumi, he might do something to her...if she ever rises. Its been over a week since the funeral and I haven't heard a word about her, maybe Tatsumi was just lying to me and she really is gone"_ the thought sickened Sora almost as much as if he'd lost her all over again. " _if she really is gone then I'm gonna lay waste to their entire operation. Ive killed enough people by now not to feel a shred of guilt about it"_ he thought with just a hint of reluctance. Suddenly his hears pricked when he heard sounds coming from the forest behind him. " _if this was just some kind of elaborate prank so Tatsumi could burst from the woods and scare me hes got another thing coming. I'll play along, gives me an excuse to thrash him."_ so Sora waited complacently as the noises approached him.

**Meanwhile**

" _okay. This is the moment of truth. Sora is sitting right there. If I just move quietly he won't even know I'm coming. I can bite him and hypnotize him before another thought passes through his head and he wont have to suffer. Ill make sure I tell him to feel no pain."_ Megumi thought as she clutched a tree. Her hands were trembling and her resolve was shaking. " _maybe I should tell him I'm here. He'll be so happy to see me, I'm sure the funeral was hard on him. I could give him one last moment of happiness...if he rises I don't know if he'd forgive me so I can give him this at least. Its not every day you see someone come back from the dead."_ she thought with a somber laugh. She walked another step when the ruffles of her pink dress caught a branch, she pulled the black strap it was tangled in free with a loud snap and she was certain Sora, who was mere feet away, heard it. She felt an icy wave of tension envelop her as she waited to see him cock his head around, but nothing. He simply sat in the same position almost as if he didn't notice. " _he really is an oblivious guy."_ she smiled fondly as she took a deep breath. She walked a few feet behind him and called his name. "sora?" she spoke softly.

This time she did get a reaction, with inhuman speed Sora whipped his head around and his eyes grew large. She could see tears starting to well up in them and it in turn made her quite sad. " _please forgive me for what im about to do."_

"Megumi!" Sora said as he rushed over to her. He gave her a tight hug and buried his face into her neck leaving his own exposed. "I'm so glad you're okay." he said, voice slightly muffled through her skin. He nestled in tighter and she put a hand on the back of his head.

" _thats an odd thing to say...i would have assumed he'd say I thought you were dead. I guess it doesn't matter…I'm_ so glad to see you" she said with genuine affection as she held him tighter, with an inhuman strength in fact.

"i thought you were really gone for a minute there." Megumi let out a curious noise, surprised again by the wording Sora used. She held him tightly again and cherished what she thought might be the last moment she might have with him before speaking softly in his ear.

"sora...im so sorry." she whispered as she extended her fangs, about to sink them into his neck. In a heartbeat sora's instincts kicked in and without effort he reached around her arm and flipped her onto her back. Megumi let out a shrill squeak in surprise as she felt the heel of sora's shoe crushing her windpipe.

"Megumi, what the hell?!" Sora said with a shred of guilt as he took his foot off of her neck. She choked and sputtered as she tried to stand up. In utter shock she stared at Sora for a moment. He had a slightly guilty look on his face.

"sora. Im sorry. But I have to drink blood to survive. They'll kill the whole village and I didn't want some other vampire to hurt you." she said as tears were starting to drip down her face.

"look, I understand your situation, but if you just needed a meal you could have asked, id be more than happy to share my blood with you. Normal vampires should be able to drink jinrou blood without the narcotic effect…..wait, other vampires?!" Sora said belligerently. Megumi looked utterly flabbergasted.

"i...i didn't want them to be the ones to kill you. I figured if I was the one I could make sure you didn't suffer." she said guiltily. Sora put a hand to his forehead and made a dreadful face.

"tatsumi you mother fucker..." he whispered quietly. Megumi looked even more surprised now.

"sora? Whats going on? How do you know that name?" she asked meekly.

"i cant believe he didn't tell you when he dug you up." Sora said irritably. "Megumi, im ALREADY a vampire…..well a jinrou, but same difference." she fell to her knees in utter shock.

"jinrou?" she whispered.

"a vampire that isn't cold to the touch and can walk around in the day time. We can eat normal food too….basically a superior version of what you turned into." she nodded as her mind drew a blank from the stress.

"h-how long have you been a...jinrou?" she asked with a confused stare on her face.

"since before I came to sotoba at least. I didn't even know I was one until the day of your funeral, we don't have to drink as often as you so it was an easy thing not to know actually, but on that day the stress must have caused me to snap and in a blood lust I fed on someone, Tatsumi saw me, we fought and now im basically sunakos slave….for now." he said begrudgingly

"well I can see how you lost a fight with Tatsumi, that guy is enormous." Sora shot her a playful stare.

"actually I could have probably killed him, but he mentioned there were more vampires and that they would hurt you if I did." he said with a sigh. Megumi blushed a bit and smiled softly when Sora mentioned that.

"you can barely hunt villagers properly and you think you have a shot at me?" Sora snarled when he heard tatsumi's voice behind them. He turned his head and bore his fangs at the man.

"the difference is I **want** to kill you. Especially after this little stunt." Tatsumi smiled smugly.

"i had a good laugh, gotta make your own fun in a place like this." he said as sora's eyes were burning through his soul. "anyway you two have things to do and people to kill, better cut this reunion short." Sora could have flung himself at Tatsumi then but Megumi held his arm.

"we can talk tomorrow. If we don't age there is plenty of time to spend together after all... _don't get yourself hurt..."_ Sora took a deep breath and sighed.

"fine... _i swear im taking sunako down if its the last thing I do. This was the last straw."_

**the next morning.**

"sora, hey" doctor Ozaki said with a smile. Sora winced at the usual smell of cigarette smoke and antiseptic.

"doctor...we need to talk."


End file.
